Song: Dancing on my Own
Artist: Calum Scott
Original artist: Robyn
In the past I have remarked about how slowing down an up-beat song can earn it a
whole new audience. That blog was in relation to Believe by Cher and Adam Lambert’s
interpretation of it
The subject of this blog is another example. Robyn’s original of Dancing on my Own is
certainly up-beat. See below. But she went on to record two more versions – one
distinctly slower. Robyn enjoyed considerable success with the song – especially in
Scandinavian markets. In the UK it peaked at No 8.
When a then-unknown named Calum Scott sang his slowed down version on Britain’s
Got Talent in 2015 he opened the eyes of many including those of head judge Simon
Cowell who gave his performance the Golden Buzzer treatment after looking distinctly
unimpressed early in the audition.
It can’t have been an easy performance for Scott given that he has just seen his sister
get the thumbs down from the judges in the same contest.
Scott’s version went viral on streaming services. On iTunes it charted in the Top 10 in
more than a dozen countries. It would go on to peak at No 2 in the UK and was the
best-selling single in the summer of 2016.
A while back Scott pretended to be a bricklayer on Aussie TV to see if the programme’s
host could detect it was actually him singing Dancing on my Own. The host didn’t twig
the “stitch-up” as he described it. It’s bit of fun (see below).
