There's already been a lot of conversation swirling around the girl group KATSEYE, with two members, Manon Bannerman and Sophia Laforteza, going on recent hiatus. Despite the shift in dynamics, KATSEYE powers on. Today, they release their anticipated EP WILD, which features an Ed Sheeran co-write and a reworked Charli XCX song that she wrote for her 2014 album Sucker.
Although "Bel Air" never got an official release, it has been circulating the web for years in various forms. The original was penned by Charli and Noonie Bao and produced by Jarrad Rogers in December 2013. It never made it onto Sucker. Later, the track was reworked with John Hill and SOPHIE. The version that KATSEYE recorded credits Charli, Noonie Bao, and Jarrad Rogers, along with Stefan Gräslund, Patrik Berger, Martin Stilling, and Kristin Carpenter.
KATSEYE's version is a stark and gruff pop song. It sounds good — a lovelorn bop — but its lost all the melodrama and violence of the original. Charli's vocals were less polished, more winded, although who knows what a released version would have actually sounded like. The real difference comes in the lyrics. KATSEYE opted not to include the verse where Charli sang, "I know I sound so crazy/ I want to keep you close to kiss my tears/ I'm calling for you, I dial your number/ But you never pick up when it's my name/ So I drive up to Bel Air and drown inside the pool out on the deck."
KATSEYE were also on Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, where they sat for an interview about dance moves and performed "Animal." Below, you'll find their version of "Bel Air" and the leaked Charli XCX original as well as that Fallon appearance.
WILD is out now via HYBE/Geffen Records.
