There’s really not much left to say about British singer Leona Lewis’ ridiculously popular song “Bleeding Love.” It was the best-selling single of 2007 in the UK and went on to sale over 9 million copies (digital and physical) across the world. It reached number one in 33 countries, making it one of only two songs to accomplish this feat — the other being “Candle In The Wind 1997” by Elton John. The song has had numerous remixes and covers so it’s never really had the chance to leave music fans’ collective consciousness — and now with the new remix by Brooklyn rockers Challenger, the song is given new life and has a visceral punch that few artists have managed to impart to the song.
Trading off the original’s slick pop production for something denser, something more ominous, this re-imagining dirties up the beat and surrounds it in a slight haze of distortion and electronic cacophony. The song has been transformed from its airy, catchy former self to a foreboding slice of electro-pop. Lewis’ vocal theatrics and the reconstructed instrumentation circle each other in a hesitant dance before finally giving in and embracing each other in a colossal cathartic release. But that’s exactly what great pop should do — by giving the listener an outlet for pent-up emotional frustration, music becomes overtly participatory, and we all become part of its legacy. And that’s precisely what Challenger have done here. By injecting even more feeling and a communal sense of pop identity to Lewis’ song, they’ve created a song that lives and breathes for its audience — which only makes the Spring 2014 release of the band’s upcoming album, Back To Bellevue, seem like it can’t get here soon enough.
Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere Challenger’s remix of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love.”
