demos..

I've been listening to a lot of music lately. I've become a big fan of shuffle, because it forces you to listen to songs you wouldn't normally give a chance, when you have all your other favorite songs to pick from. And recently, I've packed my tiny, little 4GB iPod with a grip of RnB songs.

After listening to a bunch of them, I've grown fond of demos, thanks to Shake from 2dopeboyz for providing me with them through his "Sunday Soothing Sessions".
I find it rather interesting to hear all these big hits being sung by someone other than the artists that became known for them. And to know that these odd sounding versions are the originals and that they were the ones that came up with the entire song on their own just to market it to another artist for profit is interesting, because it shows you who can make hits on a consistent basis and those who need help.

For one, I find Johnta Austin's demo of "With You" a lot better than the Rihanna-beater's single, just because his voice is a lot deeper and makes it more sensual. (No homo.)
Ryan Leslie's demo of Cassie's (probably only) single "Me & You" is on a whole other plateau from his student's hit.

Then there are times when the demo is on par with the final product.
Johnta Austin's demo track to Usher for his song "Before I Met You" is equally great by either artist.

But then sometimes, it just so happens that the transfer of notes and lyrics in a business deal turns out to be a good idea.
Keri Hilson's take on the song "Stronger" fell short of the final product by Mary J. Blige...just like it was supposed to turn out.
Ne-Yo's reference track titled "There With You" ended up on John Legend's Evolver album as the song "Take Me Away" and seeing as how awesome John Legend's vocal abilities are, it turned out better.
Then there are times when it's just hella odd to hear the reference track, like The-Dream's version of Rihanna's hit "Umbrella".

Now that's about it for my opinion on what demos and reference tracks I've listened to.
I need to find myself more of them.

In search of Ne-Yo level inspiration,
Marcus