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Writer's pictureNew Artist Spotlight

𝗖𝗞ð—ŧð—ŧ𝗞ð—đð—đ𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗞ð—ŋð—ŧð—ēð—ŋ - this week: Panties (Remix) - Charles Connolly, Skinny Dippers

Welcome all to 𝗖𝗞ð—ŧð—ŧ𝗞ð—đð—đ𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗞ð—ŋð—ŧð—ēð—ŋ, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly - an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙎 𝘞𝙧ð™Đ𝙞ð™Ļð™Đ 𝙎ð™Ĩð™Īð™Đð™Ąð™žð™œð™ð™Đ playlists.


𝙋𝙖ð™Ģð™Đ𝙞𝙚ð™Ļ (ð˜ūð™ð™–ð™§ð™Ąð™šð™Ļ ð˜ūð™Īð™Ģð™Ģð™Īð™Ąð™Ąð™Ū 𝙍𝙚ð™Ē𝙞𝙭) - ð˜ūð™ð™–ð™§ð™Ąð™šð™Ļ ð˜ūð™Īð™Ģð™Ģð™Īð™Ąð™Ąð™Ū, 𝙎𝙠𝙞ð™Ģð™Ģð™Ū ð˜ŋ𝙞ð™Ĩð™Ĩ𝙚𝙧ð™Ļ


Charles resolves the new with egotism (of a kind)â€Ķ


A fresh start to a fresh year. It is unsealed and the vacuum is broken. Decaying as we speak. But let us not think of decay with a ticking clock. The year is long, and - in the words of The Carpenters - “We’ve only just begun”. It seems so out of fashion these days to make new year resolutions, partly because we are so well trained at thinking in this way throughout the year, that a brand new year suggests we simply continue as we have been. We are simply infallible and frankly a bit perfect these days. Well, aren’t we? Not really, no. But take for example, health. Health seems to be such a major point of interest (and obsession) these days. Gone are the days of “giving up smoking” for new year. This particular resolution used to continue for at least a decade until you would eventually just stop with these broken promises; give up giving up. You knew it would never happen. But nowadays it’s all so different. The majority of us doesn’t smoke and has a balanced diet - or is at least somewhat conscious of what one consumes, and the “cancer sticks” stopped long ago. We are oh-so aware of our mental state and general wellbeing throughout the year, that a new year has little goodness to bring. Could you GET any gooder? If one were to habitually achieve 100% on a regular test, how could one improve? 101% is impossible. Maybe improve your handwriting? It’s thin pickings, reallyâ€Ķ The problem is that we’re all just so bloody perfect these days!! We’re all so kind and caring. All so helpful. All so humble. All so self-effacing. Could THIS be the problemâ€Ķ? It very much COULD be. Is this not maybe the opportunity to try to be a little more selfish? Maybe not selfish, but to be proud of oneself? To show the world how good YOU are, rather than to praise others? Just for a change, how about a bit of “me-time”? I think it’s wise. You’ve spent the entire year making others feel good, being helpful, kind and considerate. Do NOT stop this! But don’t forget about yourself. Sometimes being selfish can be a good thing.


The UK supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s, has a range of healthy foods called “Be Good To Yourself” - they’ve got the idea. Vanity in small doses can be such a morale booster, and if what you’ve got to offer is that good, it benefits everyone. Win-win! Pride is different to arrogance. Making someone aware of what you have made, is different to bragging and smothering their faces with it day-in, day-out. Well in the last few days, it was brought to my attention that my latest release was seemingly not known to a lot of you. Almost certainly my fault. I have a tendency of putting the emphasis on the art, and not on the promotion. I am afraid of going too far, so I naturally don’t go nearly far enough. I don’t like annoying people. Pitching. Pestering. Poking. Call it what you will. It’s just not me. And I am aware that to make it in this music world, one MUST do this. Oh sigh of sighs. WELLâ€Ķ With hesitation and maybe regret (and a small dose of smug pride), here I am, talking about myself. With this in mind, I guide your eyes towards a little known thing from September of 2021â€Ķ

I think I’m right in saying that most of you absolutely love and adore ‘Panties’ by NAS artist Skinny Dippers (Ryan Gross). In fact, I reviewed it early on in my Corner, with very high praise indeed. It is an indie pop classic and undoubtedly one of the best songs on the New Artist Spotlight - not that we ever rank or judge artists (ahem!). I can’t stand it when Hollywood remakes classic films (“movies” for the Americans, “moving pictures” or “talkies” for the centenarians). Why remake something that is flawless and universally praised? West Side Story does not need to be remade. But here we are. They apparently wanted to modernise it. The original is set in the 50s in New York. The brand new Spielberg production is set in the 50s in New York. Nice modern touch, there. With the idea of remaking an old film, I always used to wonder why they didn’t remake something that flopped and make it good, rather than taking something perfect and making it less perfect. Or here’s an idea - make something new and original!! I know, I know. Crazy suggestion. With all that being said, what did I do? I took a perfect song and remade it. “You hypocritical bastard”. I know. Absurd. Ridiculous. Both a cad and a bounder. How can you possibly take me seriously about anything NOW?? Well, did you ever? I do hope not. The main reason I decided to write about this release of mine right now, is to coincide with Ryan’s achievement of hitting the Number 1 stop on NAS Top 20 Chart this week. Bearing in mind that ‘Panties’ was not only released more than 15 months ago, but that it is still - not for long - his only release to date! Skinny Dippers has many scheduled releases coming this year - I say no more! Basically, Ryan did brilliantly, and I wanted to jump on the bandwagon of ‘Panties’. This will be the first and last time I talk about or advertise my own releases in my Corner. The bandwagon of panties - what an image!

Will he ever get on with this damned ego-trip of his? Okay, okay. While it is true that I remade the song, I didn’t want to make a “doomp-tick doomp-tick” remix but neither did I just want it to be the same but not as good. I wanted to make something truly different, whilst still retaining the greatness of the original. Although Ryan sent me all the stems (separate audio tracks), I decided only to use the vocals and then clad it with my own music. This is why I call it a remake as opposed to a remix (despite the title). Oh, and speaking of titles, I had to call it “Remix” because a certain distributor that shall remain anonymous, forced it upon me. They also completely screwed up EVERYTHING about the release. Just EVERYthing. Actually, no. It shall NOT remain anonymous. It was distributed by RouteNote. A friendly word of warning: if you are planning on doing a remix or collaboration (or at least having the release labelled as more than one artist), DO NOT use RouteNote. I am not alone in losing my mind over their incompetence and ineptitude. Long live Distrokid! (they are excellent). Now that’s out of the way, we move on to greener pastures. I won’t go into detail about the song, because as with all music, it is best listened to, rather than reading about. But I will say that it is somewhat orchestral in parts, and also pretty heavy rock at other times. There is also some slow cool stuff going on. Slow, cool stuff - the writer lives on! Basically, it is a mishmash of genres and styles all lumped into one song. Because why not. To my ears, it works, and is not a cacophonous disaster. You can be the judge of that. It was released on the anniversary of the original, and so there was a bit of a rush “on”. I managed to do the entire piece from first idea to final mix, in 24 hours. Which was nice.


Another “resolution” for me this year is to finish and release more music. I have SO many pieces close to being finished, and I just MUST. Last year was frankly rather pathetic in terms of prolificacy, and I intend to change that this year. In 2021 I did however start my career in mixing for other artists, and my mixing and production skills are still very much available to anyone interested. Yes, that’s a plug. Ha! (but seriously, get in touch if you need/would like a little “CC Magic” [as it has come to be known] sprinkled “on yo’ ass” - as they say).


Self-help, my DONKEY! This is pure ego.


Listen to both versions of 𝙋𝙖ð™Ģð™Đ𝙞𝙚ð™Ļ on the 𝗖𝗞ð—ŧð—ŧ𝗞ð—đð—đ𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗞ð—ŋð—ŧð—ēð—ŋ Spotify playlist HERE!

Listen to both versions of 𝙋𝙖ð™Ģð™Đ𝙞𝙚ð™Ļ on the 𝗖𝗞ð—ŧð—ŧ𝗞ð—đð—đ𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗞ð—ŋð—ŧð—ēð—ŋ Apple Music playlist HERE!


Follow ð˜ūð™ð™–ð™§ð™Ąð™šð™Ļ ð˜ūð™Īð™Ģð™Ģð™Īð™Ąð™Ąð™Ū on Instagram HERE!

Follow 𝙎𝙠𝙞ð™Ģð™Ģð™Ū ð˜ŋ𝙞ð™Ĩð™Ĩ𝙚𝙧ð™Ļ on Instagram HERE!


Hire ð˜ūð˜ū for mixing/production work HERE!


Please share this post and let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or on Facebook HERE!



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12 Comments


themikeandmandy
themikeandmandy
Jan 05, 2022

I love both versions, and am proud to have voted for one version of this song or another in several Top20 rankings! Bravo.

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Jan 06, 2022
Replying to

And I'm proud of you for doing so too! Thank you! It was a tough act to follow...

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Vicky Rai
Vicky Rai
Jan 04, 2022

That's amazing how you did this remake/remix lol on this track in only 24hrs not sure how you managed to do this but you did a fantastic job! Start putting out more music this year I'm sure we are all looking forward to it. Congrats 👏 👏 so we'll deserved indeed!

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Jan 04, 2022
Replying to

Thank you, Vicky!! I work fast when I have to. In fact, I often can't not - keeping up with whatever comes to mind, or I lose it. 😊

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Ed Eagle
Ed Eagle
Jan 04, 2022

If anyone has earned a tooting of their own horn, it is you. The fact that you haven’t broken through yet with any of your tracks yet is more a sign of a broken industry than poor marketing. But we’re working on that.


As for the track, I love the wistful catchiness of the original AND the darkness of your “remix.” In fact, I was impressed that you even considered taking it in that direction in the first place.

I don’t have to tell you how much I love the CC Magic. I’ve had it sprinkled on my last three releases and highly recommend your engineering expertise to everyone!

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Jan 04, 2022
Replying to

High praise from the dude himself. Thank you, Ed! Toot toot! I think I'm maybe darker than you imagine... So pleased you like all that I offer. Your last three donkeys were splendid. Here's to '22...!

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Edward Corrado
Edward Corrado
Jan 04, 2022

I can't believe you completed it in 24 hours. Well done. Love the original and I love this rejig as well.

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Jan 04, 2022
Replying to

Thank you, Ed! The original is so good, and I was fully aware of people's fondness of it, so I had to be careful. Like covering Beatles songs - got. to. be. careful....! As to the time thang, I don't like lingering - or I rarely finish them - hence the second resolution. 😁

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primarymusicusa
primarymusicusa
Jan 04, 2022

YES! More music PLEASE! :) I think that's a GREAT resolution for everyone! That was my resolution last year, and I admit I rushed out a few things that I'm not that proud of, yet keeping the pipes primed is the best way to retain an audience and grow your base. Wishing everyone a productive and prosperous 2022!

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Jan 04, 2022
Replying to

Exactly. You can certainly be proud of Houston - that's a humdinger! Happy 2022!

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