I'm gonna go with the remake here. Firstly I love when someone takes a song in a completely new direction and if possible improve on it, which is what I feel Gretchen Parlato did here.

Plus it could be that I've heard the original thousands of times so its familiar.

But the remake is so smooth and I'm on a jazz kick now and to me its just so much better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=976b8TPPFJU

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Gretchen Parlato

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRAOBtnnCi4

That´s a tough one.

I like both versions....one moment I prefer the original because I bought that SWV album back in the day when it was released and listened to it a lot and it sounds a bit thicker and deeper than the Gretchen Parlato version but Gretchen´s song sounds great, too. You´re right , she takes the song into a whole different direction but I think it could sound a bit bigger, fatter, deeper, with more bass.

Not that I dislike it but it does sound a little bit generic.

But I´m sure I´d change my mind and prefer it over the original if I listened to it a bit more often.

Both sound nice.

I lean towards Parlato, knowing SWV made it a classic song for their era. The arrangement and her phrasing was on point.

She did an equally creative cover for Mary J Blige's "All That I Can Say," which I think is almost as good as the original. Her version of "Can't Help It" couldn't top the original but was a great listen.

The live version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH1jGK8MkOs