Video premiere: Jill Barber's 'Broken for Good'

The greatest compliment Jill Barber gets is when somebody hears one of her original songs and mistakes it for a cover.

That would be easy to do with Broken for Good, the video for which premieres at USA TODAY.

With its sharp snare attack and doubled tambourine, a blurting bari sax and subterranean stand-up bass, the first single from Barber's new Fool's Gold album has the feel of a proto-Motown song, perhaps something that might have come out of New York's Brill Building in the early '60s.

"Whenever I write a song, I'm trying to write a song that sounds like a classic song," says the Canadian jazz singer, 34, a two-time Juno Award nominee.

Barber's video has a classic feel to it, as well. Shot at Toronto's historic Great Hall, it features Barber, starkly lit and surrounded by dancers from So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

"It's a video of contrasts, and it suits the song," Barber says. "I wanted it to be sexy and sultry, kind of a dark, sexy video. We ended up using just one light, which is rare for a video."

Ante Kovac directed the Broken for Good video, and Mark Samuels did the choreography.

Barber may approach each song on Fool's Gold with the intention to create something that sounds classic, but placing each track into a specific style can be difficult. She wears her influences on her sleeve — not only vintage R&B, but jazz standards, lushly arranged string ballads and old-time country from "the Nashville of my imagination."

Barber calls Broken for Good" a clue to what the record sounds like, but it definitely doesn't give it all away.

"My hope is that the video captures eyes and ears to discover the rest of the album."

Fool's Gold, already out in Canada, will get its U.S. release Aug. 26 on Outside Music.