Behind every powerful male R&B star today is an even more powerful woman. Producer J.R. Rotem can’t stop going back in time to fiddle with female artist’s hits—he sampled Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” for Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” and Enya’s “Sail Away” for the Iyaz track “Get Away.” And now he’s going all the way back to 1993 to lift Janet Jackson’s hit “Again” for Iyaz’s second single, “Solo,” from the British Virgin Islander’s upcoming debut album, My Life. Can we give it on up for the ladies laying down the ground work for all these tracks? And does Rotem even like any songs that haven’t been smash hits before? Listen to “Again” “Solo” after the jump:Iyaz – “Solo”

Iyaz started out with a solid hit in “Replay,” but if he wants to establish a genuinely unique identity, he needs to venture beyond sounding like a carbon-copy Sean Kingston who’s borrowing other people’s well-liked songs. (Yes, many of his younger fans may not be familiar with Enya or early 90s Janet Jackson song, but considering both tracks were popular in their day—especially among radio programmers—using their melodies to form new songs comes off as just lazy.

We’re really looking forward to Iyaz’ My Life to drop, just so we can actually see if he’s got anything new up his sleeve to offer the public instead of relying on J.R. Rotem’s recycling.

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