Dev Hynes Taps Samantha Urbani For A Cover Of Babyface & Toni Braxton

Dev Hynes and Samantha Urbani offer up a decidedly awkward duet with the release of "Hurt U." The track is their plodding and painfully jagged attempt at covering Babyface and Toni Braxton's glossy heartbreak ballad "Hurt You." Hynes and Urbani trade impassioned but equally mediocre performances over an echoing drum and synth track that plays like an homage to 80's r&b as told by your standard issue keyboard demo. Hynes is regularly lauded as a rising visionary in the renaissance of boo-loving music but he fails to capitalize on that bottomless pit of potential with this joint. Hopefully he wasn't trying too hard. While this is hardly the worst cover you will ever hear, it is indeed forgettable; it seems a bit too early in Hynes and Urbani's respective careers to be throwing that descriptive in their direction but in this case the shoe fits. On a more positive note, it does sound like they both had a great night out at their local karaoke bar. Take a listen to "Hurt U." Feel free to weigh in.