Pomegranate Client Eytan Puts Some “M” Back In MTV
February 27, 2010 by Matthew Finio
Was disco ever dead? According to MTV, the sweet, glittery spectacle might be ripe for revival—with updates, of course. The network's original TV movie, Turn the Beat Around, tells the story of a struggling dancer who teams with a wealthy nightlife maven to build a hot new disco-themed club. Covers of '70s classics like "Bad Girls" and "Get Down Tonight" are featured, plus a new take on KC & the Sunshine Band's "That’s the Way (I Like It)," performed by artist Eytan, a Pomegranate client.
"MTV picked artists to be part of the soundtrack and assigned different classic disco songs to them to remake," says Eytan (rhymes with Akon), a pop, rock and soul artist based in Brooklyn. "Most of the artists in the movie are way more commercial pop leaning than I am—Jason Derulo, Cobra Starship, Leighton Meester—but I think the track I did fits in well to what they were going for." Eytan, full name Eytan Oren, recorded the entire track at home and had his girlfriend perform a cameo vocal.
"It's a song I probably never would have covered if it weren't assigned to me, and it was definitely a challenge to find a way to update it," says Eytan. "I definitely took a lot of liberties with the music—changing the chord progressions, etc." MTV apparently added extra keyboards and drums to the track which Eytan heard for the first time when he saw the movie on TV. "I actually preferred the song with the additions, so it was a pleasant surprise. The official soundtrack version is still the original I submitted."
Check listings for Turn the Beat Around, airing various times this weekend on MTV. Eytan's version of "That’s the Way (I Like It)" and the movie's soundtrack are available on iTunes, and you can learn more about Eytan and his upcoming album, The Perfect Break-Up, on myspace, www.myspace.com/eytanmusic and facebook, http://tinyurl.com/yjsaa9d.
