"Collaborating with a true garage icon feels surreal, especially since his legacy influenced parts of my early work," says PinkPantheress as she teams up with MJ Cole for a new take on a UK garage classic.] - Guitar | Technique

Through sampling and interpolation, PinkPantheress has spent a significant portion of her career paying homage to classic UK dance music, so it seems fitting that she’s now guesting on a new version of MJ Cole’s seminal UK garage hit, Sincere.

Released in 1998, Sincere is frequently cited as one of the most important releases of the UK garage era, helping to set the tone for the scene and giving a steer to countless producers. And, as you might expect, PinkPantheress was one of them.

“I’m so thrilled I got to work with MJ Cole on this remix,” she says of the track, which is called Still Sincere. “He’s honestly a garage legend and it’s kinda surreal collaborating with someone whose legacy inspired bits of my early work.”

MJ Cole x PinkPantheress: Still Sincere (Official Visualiser) – YouTube

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The original version of Sincere was made in a bedroom at Cole’s parents’ house using an Atari ST and Akai MPC3000XL sampler. Speaking to DJ Mag last year, Cole confirmed that the vocals came from a sample CD.

“They’re from two different singers, and there’s all these tiny little bits,” he said. “So Sincere started with a keyboard full of different vocals and some other sounds, just like piecing them together.”

Cole would add the Rhodes keyboards parts later in a studio he was working at, giving Sincere a jazzier, more soulful feel. “I guess looking back it is quite a musical record; it’s fairly melodic – the bass uses these minor ninths that I use all the time now,” Cole told DJ Mag. “And that was the first time I discovered that.”

MJ Cole ‘Sincere’ | The Making Of A UK Garage Classic – YouTube
MJ Cole 'Sincere' | The Making Of A UK Garage Classic - YouTube

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28 years later [sounds like a good name for a film], PinkPantheress has got her claws into Sincere, ditching those original vocals and adding her own to bring us Still Sincere. And sure enough, she sounds right at home.