Anthony Cruz happy to ‘Leave the Door Open’
Published:Tuesday | September 7, 2021 | 12:06 AMSade Gardner/Staff Reporter
Silk Sonic’s debut record, Leave the Door Open, soared to the top of several charts earlier this year, and Anthony Cruz is confident that his cover of the song will do likewise.
The track, which is self-produced on Cruz’s label, Shan Shan Records, is slated for release on October 8.
“Straight number, straight number one,” the reggae crooner stressed while speaking to The Gleaner about his expectations for the cover. “Music is a thing you can feel. Straight number one,” he repeated.
His confidence is supported by the love he has been receiving since he teased the record late August, paired with favourable radio rotation.
“It reminds me of when I did You Got it Bad, that number one song; it’s just overwhelming,” he said. “One of the key things to singing over a song [is], you have to sing songs that match your vocals so you can execute the notes and all a dem things deh the right way so it sounds reggae, but you don’t lose that soul and the whole flavour of the song. People love it, man. Everybody a call me, from New York to Miami to Jamaica ... . Everybody a seh, ‘Well done, sure shot. Sure number one.’”
Had to do it
Cruz’s catalogue is no stranger to covers. His rendition of Usher’s You Got it Bad in 2002 quickly became a reggae classic, but he’s also known for popular covers like Santana’s Maria Maria (2000); Luthur Vandross’ Never Too Much (a 2003 reimagination with Beenie Man), and a mash-up of classics packaged as Jah Cruz Medley, released in 2019. When he heard the Bruno Mars-Anderson .Paak debut effort, he said he had to cover it.
“The first time mi hear dah song deh it just swept me off my feet, totally,” he said. “The way them arrange that song, if you notice, it’s like the ‘70s, the ‘80s, dem type a love song deh, where you know back inna the days we used to have Soul Train … . Mi play dah song deh ‘bout one million time … . That is, like, my favourite song right now and it just bring mi back to when R’n’B was R’n’B: full ah soul, full a melody, full a everything weh it supposed to full ah; and the two voices, when combined, trust me, blazing, blazing, blazing. I had to sing a cover. Even if one hundred man did sing it over, mi did haffi sing it over.”
The rhythm was built by Kashief Lindo and Miami-based Heavy Beat Records, and the project will be distributed by Tad’s International Records. A music video is also in the works.
On the matter of covers, the singer’s recent cover of Giveon’s Heartbreak Anniversary will premiere as a music video this week. That track was also covered by Tarrus Riley in July.