When I heard this song on the radio recently, I was really regretting I had removed Shazam from my smartphone (storage was full, had to make tough decisions!). I really, I mean really, wanted to know who had the guts to use such a classic song in a dance track.
"ABC" is probably the most recognizable song by The Jackson 5. It showcased the soul a young Michael Jackson had in his voice and his excellent vocal deliverance, that went far beyond his years.
It's hard to listen to it and not get reminded of the fact that this is where it all began for the King Of Pop, and therefore, also remember what followed for him after and his unfortunate death. Cutting up this classic song to use as sample in a dance track is daring, perhaps, even dangerous. There's the chance that people will love it, but there's also a chance that people will hate it with a passion. Either way, public opinion can be divided. Not a safe choice to debut with like Sigala did.
Personally, I think it's vitally important that new versions are created of old classics. As much as the "older" generation hangs on the original, and might even think any new version as desecration, they tend to forget that a new generation is used to completely different music.
Music gets revitalized every so many years and all current songs have a different energy to older songs. They’re usually much faster, louder beats or just in line with the latest trends. In order to have the classics survive, or even introduce a new audience to the classics, you, in some cases unfortunately, need to update them.
Sigala, however, has chosen not just to update the song and create a remix of it. He literally chopped it up and created something else with the one line "That's how easy love can be" as the hook. It's no accident that he named his song "Easy Love" instead of "ABC".
In the beginning of the song, with Michael's shouts, I really had to get into it, but the rest flows really easily. It's interesting to hear Michael's high voice getting pitched even a little bit more to sound like any other song in which we pitch a singer's voice so high to sound like a young, but unnatural or digitalized sounding, Michael Jackson. It all makes it make sense.
The song comes together really nicely because of that and is completely like a song should sound today. But, even though I wouldn't turn off the radio once this song comes on, and yes, I'd probably be turning it up, I do still, very much so, prefer the original..... It’s just such a symbol of lost times.
