Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk
As a member of the grime collectives O.T Crew and The Movement that both feature other well-known British rap artists such as Wretch 32, Devlin has already experienced some significant success on the UK charts. He’s had four top 40 singles and a top 40 album that was certified gold, and also featured on a remix of the number one hit ‘Price Tag’ by Jessie J.
Here he teams up with American singer-songwriter Diane Birch – who has yet to match the success of her musical partner – to put forth the tale of lost love and regret on ‘Rewind.’ It uses the combination of rapper and singer that has worked well for numerous other artists of late: Eminem, B.O.B and Professor Green who used Rihanna, Emeli Sandé and Hayley Williams respectively on their tracks.
The song does put you in mind of ‘Love the Way You Lie’ and ‘Read All About It’ with its wanting to push rewind on a part of your life, which is something we can all relate to, and features a great dark and moody base with a thumping beat in the background that we’ve all become very familiar with in the last few years.
Although a competent rapper, Devlin isn’t as good as some of his contemporaries and whereas the previously mentioned tracks have both superb rapping and singing, the highlight of ‘Rewind’ has to be Diana Birch’s vocals. The little known singer carries the song, coming across as a less depressing and morbid version of Lana Del Ray, occasionally sounding as though she’s about to burst into a rendition of Heart’s ‘Alone.’
Given the trends of rappers and singers over the last few years and with this song being reminiscent of previous hits, not to mention its catchy tune and Birch’s great vocals, it all points toward ‘Rewind’ being a huge hit for 2013.
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