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Parra For Cuva feat. Anna Naklab
Why we feature this artist Wicked Game in a different kind of night Parra for Cuva and Anna Naklab gave Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game a new rhythmic setting without losing the unease at the centre of the song. Their version, titled Wicked Games, places Naklab’s si…
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Why we feature this artist
Wicked Game in a different kind of night
Parra for Cuva and Anna Naklab gave Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game a new rhythmic setting without losing the unease at the centre of the song. Their version, titled Wicked Games, places Naklab’s singing over restrained house production. The tension comes from how little needs to happen around the vocal for the atmosphere to change.
The Spinnin’ Deep recording
The collaboration appeared on Spinnin’ Deep in 2013. Parra for Cuva, the recording name of German producer Nicolas Demuth, supplied an electronic frame that moved differently from Isaak’s original guitar-led recording. Naklab’s vocal gave the reinterpretation its own human focus, rather than asking a familiar instrumental sample to carry the whole association.
Naklab sings the familiar Isaak composition in a different vocal register and a changed rhythmic environment. Her performance gives the cover a new point of view without having to replace the melodic shape. A steady low pulse and patient instrumental space allow the vocal to remain close even as the beat carries it outward.
A later British breakthrough
The single reached number six in Britain in 2014, giving an earlier club release another public life. The shorter radio edit keeps the central melody and vocal mood immediately available, while the original mix has more time to establish the surrounding texture.
The record is effective because the production does not try to erase the song’s uncertainty. The dance rhythm adds movement without turning the performance into an uncomplicated celebration. Naklab’s phrasing remains suspended against that steady pulse, making the contrast between bodily momentum and emotional hesitation the most interesting part of the cover.
Essential releases
Wicked Games
The original Spinnin’ Deep collaboration places Anna Naklab’s interpretation inside Parra for Cuva’s house production.
Wicked Games — Radio Edit
The shorter version keeps the central vocal and atmosphere clear; the single reached its wider British audience in 2014.