Before I pushed play I was thinking I really hope he's pitched the vocals because they are not in the same key. I was happy to hear you had tried. But they don't work together bud (at least to my dodgy old ears).
Of course I pitched it. I have music theory background, so I would never do something with two different keys. Why doesn't it work, in your opinion? Just wondering. :)
Sorry I would have given a more detailed answer in my previous post, but I was short on time. There was a few things that bothered me about the track. Firstly, the audio quality is awful. Now I know a large chunk of that is down to Youtube, but it sounds distorted. I would think you've exported this over 0db which will always result in distortion.
It sounds to me as if it has been made using DJ software as opposed to production software. The bit at around 1:44 isn't synced properly, it slides off beat. You simply cannot make a good mashup on DJ software.
The main reason (for me) that it doesn't work is the progression on the chorus. It doesn't lend itself to Rihanna's original track.
Of course this is just my opinion, mashups are subjective. I'm just offering idea's on how you can improve, it's not meant to be offensive.
I wished you altered the pitch of the instrumental instead of the vocals because it doesn't sound right. You got the concept right, you made it so they were the right pitch, but it just doesn't work quite right. Nice try dude!
I actually quite like this. The only criticisms I can give are how Ke$ha's vocals sound due to the pitching and the distortion of it, but otherwise it's great imo. B)