Alessandro Coli – I Betcha’
URL: https://www.alessandrocoliofficial.com/
Great artistic and entertainment careers often grow from unexpected beginnings. Alessandro Coli’s appearance on an Italian television talent show at the age of fifteen embarked the talented young vocalist and songwriter on a career that has produced hit releases on the European continent and earned fulsome praise and support from critics and major recording labels clearly recognizing a significant and marketable pop star in the making. His first single foray into the American market “Flames” netted Coli a strong showing on the Billboard dance club charts and the follow-up, “I Betcha”, continues to make the case that Coli’s abilities are blooming exponentially with each new release. “I Betcha” serves as a likely prelude to Coli’s impending first full length release, due sometime in 2017, but as signposts to the future go, “I Betcha” is quite masterful and suggests that the future is now for this skilled performer.
The lyric is, frankly, perhaps one of the best in recent memory on the age-old theme of rejected love and its attendant lingering bitterness. The key to its success doesn’t lie in how effectively Coli reproduces a series of familiar tropes and clichés but, instead, in the sincerity of Coli’s expression. He doesn’t use a single word that doesn’t ultimately matter to the song’s personal narrative and the individual lines skillfully balance expressing his feelings without ever going overboard into outright bitterness and recrimination. His sarcasm and bitterness creep through in the title and even that it is an indication how careful he is to allow overt negativity to infect the track and, instead, focuses on artistry and entertainment.
The entertainment comes from an expertly constructed dance track that, much like the lyric, has a seamlessness that never comes off too light or too heavy. It is driven by the usual suspects instrumentally, but Coli never uses the electronica artlessly. The digital drums and bass provide a solid underpinning for the keyboard and synth lines to dance across and eventual transition into a sparkling bridge without showing a hint of stitching. The individual parts of “I Betcha” do a great job of entertaining listeners while still complimenting the lyric and the vocal.
The indisputable highlight, however, of this track is Coli’s vocal. He has immense vocal gifts that he uses judiciously with an eye towards serving the song at all times. His phrasing has a warm precision that never pushes too hard or little and, instead, seeks to convey the song’s experience in such a way that a listener can easily connect with it. He has additional subtle gifts – one is clearly how he slightly spikes the tempo of his delivery during certain obviously key passages. The crowning achievement of this track is how it brings so many seemingly disparate elements together into a compelling musical and entertainment package. Alessandro Coli’s future may be in the offing and, if so, he is clearly prepared to capitalize on the opportunities it presents.
I-TUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/alessandro-coli/id399230712
Shannon Cowden