In an effort to become better at producing, I am trying to copy Ne-Yo's "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)" produced by StarGate among others. It gives me a good insight in why the track works, and what I need to do in the future to make my own productions work.

I'm not good enough to produce or "hear" everything yet, so I'd love to borrow YOUR ears for a while, hoping you will tell me what is wrong or what is missing in the track. I'll appreciate any kind of input!

I work in Logic Pro 9, and I mainly use Sylenth1 to make synths.

Here is what I have come up with so far:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32359425/Let%20Me%20Love%20You%20Cov er3.mp3

And here is what I am aiming for:
Ne-Yo - Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) (Instrumental) [Download] - YouTube ( from 1:08 )

What are your immediate thoughts when you compare the two versions? What stands out? What's missing?

It's like my version does not really take off when the kick comes in, what's wrong?

There is some high pitched pad / synth stuff in the original, which I do not know how to recreate. Any ideas?

On a slightly more technical note, I would like to know if there is anything wrong EQ-wise - are any frequency areas getting too much or too little attention?. Perhaps some notes are missing in the music?

Right now the bass is made with an ES1 Moog Bass, because I think it's really hard to find a bass or a bass preset that sounds great or "expensive" - ??all the bass presets I've been through in Sylenth, either sounds really weird or very "cheap". So on that front I could also use some tips. Do you know any good bass presets suitable for dance-pop?

I have not given the claps a lot of love yet. In the build-up the clap needs to sound more "crowdy".

When I'm starting to recreate the intro / verse / pre-chorus, do you have any advice on how to achieve the sounds (piano, strings, pads, etc.) from the original? I'm not afraid to throw money after plugins or presets, if that's what it takes to get it to sound as good as the original.

I really hope you guys will help me out. As I said, I'll embrace any feedback with open arms!

Thanks for your help!