Good Grief, Cosima's Back!

Cosima De Vito returns to the pop scene this week with a brand new single and to my complete surprise, it's entirely fabulous! "Keep It Natural" is Cosima's first single in two years and represents a completely new musical direction for the diva who placed 3rd on the first series of Australian Idol, behind Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll. The dreary ballads have given way to a thumping dancefloor anthem, which is easily the best Australian Idol solo single since Paulini's "Rough Day". "Keep It Natural" is already gaining popularity on the club scene and could be the start of a whole new career as a trashy dance diva!

I have said a lot of nasty things about Cosima in the past, describing her as the poor man's Tina Arena and likening her face to a slapped arsehole. I might have been overly unkind but anyone who suffered through Cosima's notorious debut album will understand my grudge. For those lucky enough to have escaped "Cosima", the album's notoriety lies with fact that it was comprised almost exclusively of lame Diane Warren penned power ballads, the majority of which had already been released by other artists. In a nutshell, it was a dreary pile of shit. To make matters worse, the project was self-funded and is rumoured to have pushed the De Vito family close bankruptcy when the album flopped. It's great to see that Cosima has learned from her mistakes and found a whole new sound.

I've had my misgivings about Cosima's choice of material but never about the quality of her voice. I still think she sounds like Tina Arena but that is a massive compliment. It makes a nice change to hear someone who can actually belt the fuck out of song instead of talking their way through it. In fact, Cosima's voice is so big that "Keep It Natural" reminds me of Deborah Cox at her best. I was also impressed to learn that Cosima co-wrote the song with Trevor Steel. Hopefully, this means no more Diane Warren! You know a song is being aimed squarely at the gays when a "Taylor Square Remix" is included (Taylor Square is a meeting point on Sydney's gay scene) and I couldn't be happier - the remix is a trashy delight!

You can purchase Cosima's dancefloor anthem from Sanity, Chaos and iTunes. The single includes an interesting Italian version of the song. Check out this fantastic live performance on the Today Show or visit Cosima's website for further information.