Shane Ward, the X Factor winner of 2005 who achieved, at best, mediocre success has finally returned and re-launching his pop career with the Bille Woodruff directed music video for his new material. We say new, it's a cover version of Nickelback's 2008 song "Gotta Be Somebody." This will be the first cut to be lifted from Ward's upcoming third album "Obsession" which hits stores in the UK on November 15. The 26-year-old singer's last album was released in 2007 so it's taken him two-and-a-half years to actually put out a follow-up.The song is catchy enough to be a big hit for Ward and sees he putting a real nice POP synth twist to the original rocky type sound! Ward's version is obviously non-rock as he asked producers Ray Hedges, Nigel Butler, Cutfather and David Kopatz to give it a new beat. The original melody is 'kinda' there but they've replaced the rock notes for synth-beats and some auto-tune. To be fair though, Hedges and Butler have given "Gotta Be Somebody" a glossy 'n' bombastic pop makeover, Ward acquits himself admirably here and the swelling climax lends itself to the pyrotechnical spectacle that successful X Factor performances are made of.
Ward has defended his decision to launch his comeback with a cover version. "The whole transition from being rock to pop/R&B was really exciting for me and it's definitely made it into my own track. It's the perfect first single to kick-start my Obsession album," he told Digital Spy. "I don't look it as a cover. It's just a great song. I hadn't heard the song for a while before I recorded it, but I got into it again straight away because it's got such a catchy chorus. It's got a great message too - it's about hope, that there's someone out there for all of us." Ward turns a so-so rock song into a mushy pop-tarty tune.
Unsurprisingly, Ward's rendition veers towards the Pop/R&B route and does a good job with it. Coming from someone who loves the original version from Nickelback, I have to say that Ward's rendition to be rather mildly satisfying. This is not a straightforward cover, I have to say. Rather, the direction that Ward took gave his rendition some much needed gloss which somehow sets it apart from the original. Overall, Ward's take on "Gotta Be Somebody" ends up as a good pop treat though one could wonder why he opted to do a cover instead of releasing an original.
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