Review Summary: Who would in the hell release four other versions of any music material, let alone a EP?
Usually when an artist releases his or her debut music material, it's usually just the standard edition and sometimes a deluxe edition with a few bonus tracks enclosed inside. When girl group Fifth Harmony released their debut EP with Better Together late last year, they didn't want to just release one version of their extended play. In fact, Better Together has an astounding four other editions of their EP, with two Spanish versions along with an acoustic English edition and a remixes one as well. Call it unwarranted, greedy, or otherwise ridiculous but the fans do get a ton more material than originally stated. "Better Together: The Remixes" is the original five-track EP that has been overhauled for a EDM-laced sound with remixes that clearly serves the original ones justice, and easily coming out as the best version of "Better Together".
The retro-dance track "Don't Wanna Dance Alone" earned itself a remix by DJ/producer Cole Plante, a 17-year old kid that has collaborated with well-known EDM artists like Skrillex and Paul Oakenfold at festivals like Lollapalooza. The original track featured moderate amounts of dance-pop elements, but the Cole Plante remix serves up far more with glossy-coated synths that will certainly get you going in no time. The girl-power anthem "Miss Movin'On" was given a massive overhaul in sound, being remixed by DJ/producer duo Papercha$er who have created official remixes for songs like Rihanna's "Where Have You Been?" and Idina Menzel's "Let It Go". The hook literally explodes, drowning in walloping bass and fuzzy synths which never lets up and serves as easily the best part of the remix. The adult-contemporary track "Who Are You" was remixed by Bit Error, who makes the ballad sound similar to the Tiesto remix of John Legend's "All Of Me" with complex synth patterns, thumping bass, and the use of a mellow piano that was on the original version. The original edition of "Who Are You" sounded too romantically sappy and ended up being one of the low highlights of the EP, with its light instrumentation but the remix turns out unexpectedly well. The vocals fit in beautifully in the remix, with the five girls coming together for the haunting "Ooohs" that gives it a cool edge. That's why sometimes having more than just one version of a EP or album can be good, because of how the arrangements can be modified and turn tracks that weren't good into solid ones.
With four other EPS for "Better Together", not all of the tracks that got modified succeeded. The "Better Together" remix by DayDrunk is one example of why some tracks just shouldn't be tampered with, attempting to give the mid-tempo R&B track a pop-rap feeling which doesn't work. The vocal loops in the beginning of the track just didn't fit in with the edit, and putting in some trap elements into it as well just doesn't serve it justice. The "Leave My Heart Out Of This" remix by the EDM duo Buzz Junkies was also one that falls short, giving the Demi Lovato-inspired pop-rock track a retro-dance edge into it ala "Don't Wanna Dance Alone". The disco elements along with house incorporated into the remix sounds absolutely cheesy and the editing was pretty horrid. The vocals obviously sounded like they couldn't fit in the edit, and it clearly showed. It would've been nice if there were more DJS on the remix edition, they would've likely created better remixes of songs like "Better Together" that weren't edited well.
"Better Together: The Remixes" is easily the best version of the five EPS that have been released, delivering remixes that beat their original creations by a long shot. As expected, a couple remixes didn't fare out too well and the vocal editing in them were pretty bad. Those sub-par remixes could've been counteracted if there were more featured DJS in the EP, so they could clean up the messes those DJS made on remixes like "Leave My Heart Out Of This". Having 5 versions of a EP is pretty ridiculous, but this remix edition is definitely one that should be repeated again when Fifth Harmony's debut studio album is released to the masses later in 2014. Hopefully they don't go down the route of releasing another 4 different versions of music material again.
