Comparing “…Baby One More Time” Across Genres
This assignment had me so excited! My friend Ross has a band, Dead on a Sunday, where he often creates gothic/darkwave/industrial covers of popular songs outside of those genres, so I had so many options for this! It was so difficult figuring out which of his covers to pick because I love all of them. However, I wanted to go for what my mind perceived as the biggest dichotomy between genres, which led me to selecting Dead on a Sunday’s cover of Britney Spears’s iconic song, “…Baby One More Time”.
The original version of “…Baby One More Time” was released in 1999 and is one of the most iconic Y2K era pop songs. Musically, the use of wah-wah guitar and EKG machine bass slaps contribute to that classic Y2K sound and Britney’s vocal style gives it a seductive, upbeat pop style. The lyrics are describing the wanted return of a former lover and that combined with the musical styles described above give the song a desirous and covetous tone.
When looking at the Dead on a Sunday version, it is much more synth heavy and turns this pop song into a darkwave song similar to that of Depeche Mode, The Cure (Disintegration era), and Twin Tribes. The bassline is much more prominent and it’s complimented by higher pitched wistful synth. Vocally, rather than being seductive and desirous, Ross’s tone of voice create a new sense of desperation and almost hopelessness. For example, if one lyric from the song were to be selected to sum up Britney’s vibe, I would select, “Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know that something wasn’t right here. Oh baby, baby, I shouldn’t have let you go, and now you’re out of sight”, but for the Dead on a Sunday version, I would select, “My loneliness is killing me, I must confess I still believe. When I’m not with you, I lose my mind. Give me a sign”.
Personally, I prefer the Dead on a Sunday version. Part of it is general musical bias as I am more drawn to the sounds of goth/darkwave music (I mean, I was raised in the scene and work in it myself, so it’s personal), but I also feel like that desperate yearning emotion that accompanies Ross’s iteration of the song is much more fitting with the meaning behind the lyrics. I felt like I was able to connect with the song so much more with his version.