This song appeared on my suggestion feed from Spotify and I just thought it was too funny to ignore. In the 80s Jermaine Stewart was a one hit wonder with his song, “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”. Since, it has remained one of my favorite songs from this era.
Upcoming singer, Flavio Rizello, has made a new, updated version of the song. I have to admit the update is really good. I was thrown off with the slowed down beginning. Getting me all puzzled about how they could’ve turned this song into a ballad. For a moment, it got me wondering if it wasn’t going to be a cover of the Jermaine Stewart song at all, but an original song, but yeah, there it was!
And then comes the surprise altogether. Already given away by the picture appearing as the song’s cover, the vocals made it definite: They’ve turned “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” into a kid song.
Flavio Rizello is 12 years old. Yes, you are reading it correctly, 12! Barely, he turned 12 exactly 2 days ago.
Obviously, that doesn’t exactly match the kind of maturity you would expect to go together with this song and, right there, is where my criticism comes in.
I don’t think they should’ve done it. The combination of a pre-teen male vocal and these lyrics make this song a parody of itself, really. They should’ve waited until he was older. After his voice broke, because then this song could’ve actually been a winner.
The song is not a single (thankfully), but is part of an album released at the end of 2015 with, what is said to be, a collection of his favorite tracks. I don’t even think he was old enough to know the original of this song, so I’m not sure here…..
However, reading up about this boy, has been, well, entertaining. This Swiss boy already made a bold choice singing Conchita Wurst’s “Rise Like A Phoenix” in the finale of “Switzerland’s Great Talent” show. Conchita, also managed to take victory with the song, during the Eurovision Song Contest a few years ago. If you don’t remember the song, like me, you’ll remember him/her. She’s the woman with the beard.
For Flavio it also brought victory and a record deal with Sony Music, which lead to this album of “Favourites”.
And in case you were wondering what happened with Jermaine Stewart. He remained active in music up onto 1991, when his last single flopped and the attached album never was releases. He died in 1997 due to complications caused by AIDS.
