10 Beautiful Creative Song Covers Worth Your Time
The Postmodern Jukebox
I hear a lot of complaining about music these days. From that it all sounds the same and a lack of innovation because some guy in Sweden actually writes all the songs to that the ‘millennial whoop’ has taken over proper pop music. Is this true? Maybe, I don’t know.
What I do know is that I don’t particularly care much for most of the music my son likes to listen to, but I don’t think that means it’s bad music. Rather, it seems to me that your musical tastes and preferences solidify during your late teens and twenties. In my case that would be the late 1980s and 1990s, so most music composed after the millennium (with some exceptions, of course) just doesn’t really do it for me.
However, many of today’s cover versions of songs from ‘my time’ and before are truly amazing, obviously it’s not the quality of the musicians that’s at stake here. This is why I’d like to share with you ten astonishingly beautiful and creative contemporary covers which really caught my attention.
1. Creep
The song featured in the header of this post is a cover of Radiohead’s Creep by Haley Reinhart from the Postmodern Jukebox. The muted guitar strum in the original version of this song once inspired me to write my Audiobiography so it has a special place in my heart. This cover doesn’t have that muted strum but it is extraordinarily powerful and so rightfully stands at the top of my list.
2. Lose Yourself
Another, in my mind, outstanding cover is Robyn Adele Anderson’s gypsy jazz version of Eminem’s Lose Yourself. This cover brings the original to a whole new level and it’s quite amazing to hear how Eminem’s lyrics flow so naturally in this very different musical style.
3. Bad Romance
Next, also from Postmodern Jukebox, is Ariana Savalas’ rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. Gaga’s work might be of the 21st century but she’s one of the modern-day artists I do like. And now in 2020, with the help of tap dancer Sarah Reich, this cover brings us a genuine 1920s Great Gatsby feel.
4. The Sound Of Silence
Taking a break from the Postmodern Jukebox, the next cover on my list is Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence by American heavy metal band Disturbed. I used the original version of this song for my audiobiographical sketch about the time, now three years ago, when a flesh-eating bacteria unsuccessfully tried to kill me. I thought the original powerfully expressed how I felt at the time, but the the rawness of David Draiman’s voice on this cover version expresses it so much better.
5. The House Of The Rising Sun
In the same line as The Sound of Silence, there’s this hauntingly beautiful cover of the Animals’ 1964 hit song The House of the Rising Sun by River Matthews. The drums in this version bring me to a very, very dark place (but in a good way).
6. Barbie Girl
Now for something completely different, back to the Postmodern Jukebox. The original song Barbie Girl by Danish dance-pop group Aqua was an insanely catchy Euro-dance song released in 1997. It was kitschy bouncy trash at its best! This being said, it fascinates me how a piece of giddy pop/dance ditty can be transformed to something much more alluring with a bit of talent and effort. Morgan James’ vintage Beach Boy style cover of the song does just that.
7. All About That Bass
Another cover for Postmodern Jukebox by Morgan James and two other singers, whose names I regrettably don’t know, is All About That Bass, originally by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. Just listen and enjoy that bass solo.
8. Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Extremely upbeat, I feel that this gospel soul cover of U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by Rogelio Douglas Jr by far outshines the gloomy original.
9. On The Radio
Another song originally released in the new millennium which I actually like is Regina Spector’s On the Radio from 2006, here covered by American songwriter Chip Taylor. Unlike with the chirpy original, the frail wisdom of Taylor’s 80-year-old voice makes me truly understand “how it works.”
10. Space Oddity
To finish of this list of covers, I’d like to share with you one that is completely in a league of its own, David Bowie’s Space Oddity by the Barcelona English Choir and their audience. It’s hard to explain the magic that happens when the audience becomes an instrument (goosebumps, I promise). Just have a look, it’s well worth ten minutes of your time.
[T]here you are.
