Regarding Kiki & Kika

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#Infinity
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Regarding Kiki & Kika

Post by #Infinity » 12 Jul 2018, 15:36

One of the biggest talking points for SCP’s iconic female duo is just who the singers are. It’s pretty evident that the title’s performers have been extremely inconsistent throughout the years and were never explicitly identified by SCP themselves. That said, if you listen closely enough, you can solidly trace most of the voices to established solo female personas, from Christine on “Jungle Night”, to Melissa White on “That’s Amore”, to Pamsy on “Tuttifrutti Lollipop”, to Irene/Linda Ongarelli on “Pararappa Dance”, and so on.

There is, however, one particular vocalist, who has featured on numerous Kiki & Kika/Fancy tracks but seemingly nothing on her own, aside maybe from Fancy’s “Ciao Ciao Ciao” (which kind of sounds more like Christina Cucchi to my ears and features both backups as well as a rapping Christian Codenotti, too). She sounds less crisp and sassy than other SCP females, but she still brings a lot of silly-hearted fun out of the title’s songs. You can hear her on:

* Jam Jam Jam
* Go Go to Heaven
* Sunshine in My Life
* Easy Busy
* Big Yeah
* Eurobeat Beat Boom
* Snake Dance
* Dance Little Sister
* Go Bananas

Though she’s most frequently accompanied by somebody else on these songs (usually Elena Sbalchiero/Kika), she does take a clear starring role in “Easy Busy”, “Eurobeat Beat Boom”, “Dance Little Sister”, and “Go Bananas”.

My big question: is “Kiki” Evelina Somenzi? In hindsight, this makes a lot of sense to me because not only is this vocalist less professional-sounding than other females at the SCP label and has no solo tracks to her credit, but Stefano Castagna was utilized very similarly, having only provided vocals as part of Scream Team’s male backup chorus with Christian Codenotti, as well as a voiceover in “Not For Sale”, having no pseudonym of his own otherwise. My guess is that Evelina stepped in to cover part of the Kiki & Kika/Fancy voices when there wasn’t a second singer readily available.
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Mikaeru
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Re: Regarding Kiki & Kika

Post by Mikaeru » 12 Jul 2018, 16:29

Not going to agree or disagree, but if anyone good at vocal recognition wants to chime in, for comparison the spoken intro in Lucya - Night Flight is Evelina.

#Infinity
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Re: Regarding Kiki & Kika

Post by #Infinity » 12 Jul 2018, 20:38

Mikaeru wrote: 12 Jul 2018, 16:29 Not going to agree or disagree, but if anyone good at vocal recognition wants to chime in, for comparison the spoken intro in Lucya - Night Flight is Evelina.
Interesting. I had always just assumed that was the same person as the vocalist, in this case Elena Sbalchiero, speaking more of a whisper and with no pitching like in the intro to “Party Girl”. Did SCP confirm the intro to be Evelina?

If that’s really her quietly luring in her lover for a night flight, then I’d probably say she isn’t Kiki. It’s difficult to make a direct comparison because whisper-talking causes your voice to sound very different than when you’re peppily yelling about para para with your vocals pitched-up, but the monologue from “Night Flight” has a distinct Britishness to its accent that I never got out of Kiki’s singing.
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Mikaeru
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Re: Regarding Kiki & Kika

Post by Mikaeru » 12 Jul 2018, 21:22

#Infinity wrote: 12 Jul 2018, 20:38 Interesting. I had always just assumed that was the same person as the vocalist, in this case Elena Sbalchiero, speaking more of a whisper and with no pitching like in the intro to “Party Girl”. Did SCP confirm the intro to be Evelina?
Yup.
https://www.facebook.com/scpmusic/posts ... 22R1%22%7D

#Infinity
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Posts: 1992
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Location: San Diego, California

Re: Regarding Kiki & Kika

Post by #Infinity » 13 Jul 2018, 19:10

Mikaeru wrote: 12 Jul 2018, 21:22
#Infinity wrote: 12 Jul 2018, 20:38 Interesting. I had always just assumed that was the same person as the vocalist, in this case Elena Sbalchiero, speaking more of a whisper and with no pitching like in the intro to “Party Girl”. Did SCP confirm the intro to be Evelina?
Yup.
https://www.facebook.com/scpmusic/posts ... 22R1%22%7D
Well, while I don’t really think Eve is Kiki, I am starting to wonder if she was Lucya (4)/Vanilla (2)? I stated in another thread I thought “History”, “Hey You!”, and “Crazy” were Simona Allegro, but in hindsight I find the pronunciation and vocal tone in those tracks different from Simona’s songs (“Forever”, “The Look of Love”, “Beautiful”, “Memories and Feelings”, and “Easy Don’t Go”). Like Eve’s monologue in “Night Flight”, I hear a vague Britishness in these Euromach-era Lucya/Vanilla tracks, and considering “Night Flight” was Lucya in the first place, I wouldn’t be surprised if those songs were performed by Eve.

Another theory I have is that Eve is the heavily pitched vocalist for Vanilla (1) on “Around the Universe”, which I think has a sort of similar timbre to the “Night Flight” intro. I’m not 100% positive about the articulation, but I still think it’s possible this is what she sounds like when singing, pitched-up, at least.
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#Infinity
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Re: Regarding Kiki & Kika

Post by #Infinity » 18 Jul 2018, 14:44

Listening back to “Genius of Love”, I think I may actually here Evelina doing vocals in that track in particular. She’s clearly being accompanied by Elena Sbalchiero, but I can still make out a voice with similar tone and pronunciation as the “Night Flight” intro, even if she’s pitched a little. Not so sure how much this extends to the majority of other Kiki & Kika songs, although I think this is Vanilla (1) in “Around the Universe”, which also features a spoken word intro by Stefano Castagna.
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