In music, remixes and samples happen all the time. It’s what dance parties are made of, like Club 107 every Friday and Saturday overnight on Y107. But THIS doesn’t happen often, and maybe it shouldn’t?
“Hey There Delilah” was a SMASH!
In the summer of 2007, you could not get enough of “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s. I’m going to guess you know every word. (Post Malone does!)
What you might not recall is the song originally dropped in 2005. It just took a re-instrumentation to include some strings in 2006, and then a year more, for it to finally take off in 2007, turning the band into a household name. (Yes, they’d have 2 more singles to move beyond One Hit Wonders: “1,2,3,4” in 2009 and “Rhythm of Love” in 2011.) The whole reason the song was written was because the lead singer, Tom, met a girl named Delilah in 2002 and told her he had a song about her. But he didn’t. So he got to work, and finally, in 2004, the song was written and recorded, and he presented it to her. And then it rose to #1. And everywhere she went, it followed her. Tom never “got” Delilah though, as she stayed with the guy she was dating when they first met, although they did attend the Grammy’s together in 2008.
Fast Forward to 2024
The Plain White T’s are currently on tour with rockers The Used and Story of the Year, which seems like an odd pairing, as the “T’s” are known for being much more on the lighter side than either of those two. They also just released a re-mix of “Delilah” to modernize it as they say. Was it the the tour that brought on the idea for the re-mix of the now almost 18-year-old song? Maybe it’s the thought of what the orchestral “re-mix” did the first time around, hoping this might do the same. We’re not sure, as it seems odd they didn’t wait for a milestone, like 20yr anniversary. I’m just scratching my head asking, “Why now?” Or even more so, “WHY?!?” Bands don’t really remix their own songs often. Could this be an example of why they shouldn’t?
Take a Listen To the “Hey There Delilah” Remix
Hmmmmm. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this. The song was a compassioned, emotional love plea to Delilah. But this remix loses all that heartfelt longing. As for modernizing, it feels more like something Owl City would have released in 2010, 14 YEARS AGO. I think I’m most bothered by the distorted vocal on the chorus the second time around. I wanted to love this, maybe enough to add to the Y107 playlist. But sadly, I don’t.
What’s your take? Is this remix of “Hey There Delilah” a refreshing re-imagining, or a disastrous destruction of a classic?
