Conor Maynard is a well-known YouTube singer whose covers reached a large audience and ultimately led to him getting a record deal. When his debut single was released , “Can’t Say No”, I really thought his success would grow rapidly, but he just seems to pop up every once in a while and I saw him return to doing covers on YouTube pretty quickly after his initial debut as an original artist. He even released an album full of covers this year.
Last week, he released a new song in collaboration with upcoming DJ collective Kris Kross Amsterdam and Ty Dolla $ign. The song is called “Are You Sure?”. For Kris Kross, a trio existing of the cousins of a TV host and their friend, this is their second single. Their first single, a rework of Salt n Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex”, found itself at the front of a local discussion whether creativity nowadays is just about reworking something rather than coming up with something new….. yeah, let’s not go there today.
Conor Maynard, however, has had a busy year in 2016, This is his third or fourth original single this year. When he does do his original work, he tends to go for dance music or collaborations within dance music. This is why his feature on the Kris Kross Amsterdam track is no surprise to me. He seems to move between pop, dance and r&b with the greatest of ease, kind of following the footsteps of his mentor Ne-Yo, who does the same.
On the slightly tropical house track “Are You Sure?” Conor sounds a little bit like Justin Bieber. The song is pretty straight forward. No breaks, no stops, but just a very clean structure. It is catchy, but not catchy enough to win you over immediately. It’s just one of those tracks that will pass you by on the radio and sounds like everything else.
I think it’s mainly the combination of names and timing of the track for Kris Kross Amsterdam that will push this into the mainstream without too many challenges. But looking at Conor’s earlier collaborations within dance this year, this is definitely the most safest release for him and not as energetic as “Dancing in the Headlights” (with DJ Antoine) and interesting as “Catch Me Here” (with Drumsound and Bassline). Nevertheless, it shows how versatile Conor is and that makes him a nice addition to all the other teen idols out right now.
