20 year old burgeoning pop star (and winner of the U.S. X-Factor‘s inaugural season) Melanie Amaro is prepping for the release of her bangin’ new OFFICIAL debut single, “Don’t Fail Me Now.” The Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins (Destiny’s Child, Aaliyah)-produced, Livvi Franc (Cheryl Cole, Britney Spears)-penned track premiered exclusively on US Weekly‘s website yesterday and is the first cut taken from Amaro’s upcoming debut album, due out on Epic Records later this year. Listen to “Don’t Fail Me Now” BELOW.
“Don’t Fail Me Now” starts out with Amaro’s flawless vocal backed by some very minimal keyboard accompaniment before launching into full-on club anthem mode. This is exactly the kind of music I wanted Melanie Amaro to release as her first single! Dance-pop with heavy emphasis on the power that is Amaro’s voice. As she proved time and time again during her stint on The X-Factor, girl can SANG! For the most part the production on “Don’t Fail Me Now” is fresh and flowing, and while the song does include some obligatory generic dubstep breaks, the focus remains rightfully and mercifully on Amaro’s effortless vocals, as she seamlessly moves back and forth into her head voice. While a ballad would surely show off Melanie’s impressive range a lot better, I think releasing an up-tempo, remix-ready club banger like “Don’t Fail Me Now” is the perfect launch single.
To think that Melanie Amaro almost never made it onto The X-Factor is astonishing to me. Eliminated during the Judges’ Houses leg of the journey, Melanie was saved by her mentor Simon Cowell, who actually went as far as to travel to her family’s Florida home and beg for her to come back for the live shows. Sailing through the entire season without being in the bottom, Melanie dazzled both the audience and judges with virtually every performance.
In February 2012, Amaro released her cover of Aretha Franklin‘s “Respect,” coinciding with her appearance in a PEPSI Superbowl commercial starring Elton John and Flava Flav. While certainly very catchy, I wasn’t entirely sold on the song. There was just something sacrilegious about releasing a generic David Guettafied dance cover of a soul classic. That being said, a sick remix package by Bimbo Jones, Gregor Salto, DiscoTech and Ralphi Rosario certainly helped to change my mind not to mention catapulting the song all the way to #3 on Billboard‘s Dance/Club chart.
Sure Melanie could do without the generic dubstep beats and the wasteful autotune, but as far as debut singles go, “Don’t Fail Me Now” is a step in the right direction.
