10. Jeff Tweedy — I Love You
I don’t normally do this, but I’m going to turn the microphone over to Jeff Tweedy here and have him explain what’s so special about “I Love You.” This is from his book World Within a Song:
One of the things I’ve gotten into the habit of doing when I hear a song I love is to pick up my guitar and see if I can learn it. To me it’s a way to get one step closer to a song and a songwriter, and I feel privileged to have the ability to access other people’s songs by playing them.
What I heard when I played this song to myself was nowhere near as pleasing to my ears as Billie’s version. I’m a happy husband and father of two – I’m far away from the world she’s living in, and the heartsick circumstances her lyrics are so directly addressing, so it struck me as odd that I could feel them so deeply as my own.
But music is the only language really being spoken here. And when a melody is this profound and beautiful, it makes belief transferable. She and her brother believed it enough for all of us to feel it. There is no greater feat a songwriter can achieve. When a song works this well, we’re not only not alone anymore, we are in the presence of greatness.
I would just like to add that Tweedy’s ability to put across that greatness in his cover, to convey the negatives of falling in love so well even as it sits so foreign to where he is now, suggests he has more than a little greatness of his own. — Patrick Robbins
9. Inhaler — Your Power
“Try not to abuse your power,” the song begins. Ireland has its own stories of the abuse of power. Inhaler channel their empathy for a great artist, along with the stories of their country. With a rock rather than folk vibe, the justifiable rage somehow jars less with the delicate sound of the vocals, but the message gets across clearly, and with controlled power. — Mike Tobyn
8. Sarah Jarosz — My Future
Top-notch songwriting meets top-shelf musicianship—both tenor guitar and voice are superb. Jarosz released this cover at the same time as her much more popular U2 redo, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The U2 one got all the attention, but “my future” is the better song and the better cover. The way Jarosz handles the stylistic shift partway through is just one of the song’s stylish delights. — Tom McDonald
7. Mon Laferte — Wish You Were Gay
The full title of this cover is “Wish You Were Gay (Versión en Español),” which gives away part of what you’re about to hear. Translating the lyrics while keeping the music would be a dramatic enough change, but probably not enough to land a cover on this list. Chilean-Mexican singer Mon Laferte translates the music just as dramatically. The original is spare, skeletal, electronic—all the clichéd descriptors you get when writing about early Billie Eilish. The cover is none of those things. It’s lush, horn-flecked, south-of-the-border in sound as well as language. And utterly beautiful. — Ray Padgett
6. Jamie Cullum — Bury a Friend
The upright bass is the real star of this jazzy cover. Its plucks perfectly capture the short, clipped delivery of the chorus when paired with Cullum’s voice and light, drum rim taps. The rhythm of the song is further emphasized with some extra handclap percussion, and the piano serves to round out the instrumental interludes. This stripped back version adds a sultry sound that twists the monster in the lyrics and complicates its story even further. — Sara Stoudt
5. Frank Watkinson — Birds of a Feather
British retiree Frank Watkinson’s heartfelt, bare-bones covers have gone all kinds of viral. He has never been in a band, nor has he played live anywhere but in his house. No, Frank is just a humble guy with a guitar and over a million devoted followers on his YouTube channel, whom he makes cry on a regular basis. Dark, infectious, funny and gorgeous “Birds of a Feather,” one of the finest Eilish tunes ever, was Spotify’s most-streamed song in 2024. As of this writing, the song has racked up an astonishing 1.9 billion streams.
There is nothing fancy happening in Frank’s cover of “Birds.” It’s just your average everyday heartrending, world weary, delicately-groovy, Leonard Cohen-flavored rendition of one of the most popular songs on planet earth that happens to have scored nearly 2 million views on YouTube. In a 2024 interview with Honi Suit, Frank humbly stated, “I can’t sing for the life of me and can’t play guitar that well, (so) I try to perform better. I put all the feelings into it, and that way I don’t have to be spot-on perfect.” Perfect. — Hope Silverman
4. Susanna Hoffs — When the Party’s Over
The former Bangle translates Eilish’s broody second single into something almost upbeat. (I said “almost.”) Gone are the hymnal elements, and the vulnerable isolation of the vocal as well. Some will object to these alterations, but the task here is something Hoffs mastered long ago (see her multi-volume project with Matthew Sweet, Under the Covers). Hoffs is never shy about dialing back a song’s arty or angst-y aspects; there’s something fundamentally light about her voice and attitude. When the party’s over, she doesn’t brood about it, she starts planning the next one. She meets this song halfway, and the rendezvous is bittersweet. — Tom McDonald
3. Tyler Braden — What Was I Made For
Billie’s poignant piano ballad from blockbuster film/cultural phenomenon Barbie, “What Was I Made For” won a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. It is maybe the 21st century’s greatest Oscar-winning song, if you can get past Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” which I can. Even though the song was, according to Billie in an interview with Zane Lowe, “purely inspired by this movie and this character and the way I thought she would feel”, it quickly transcended its association with the film. Listening to it a few days after recording it, she herself was struck by its autobiographical quality. “I absolutely was writing about myself… Every single lyric is exactly how I feel. It’s about my life.”
Despite all the aforementioned specificity, the magical power of “What Was I Made For” is how relatable it is. If you have ever experienced confusion about who you are in the world or questioned existence, you might just recognize a bit of yourself in this pop thing. It takes the shape of whoever is listening to it or singing it. In the case of Tyler Braden, it is that of a bearded, cap-donning country boy from Alabama. His acoustic version is blustery and beautiful. Full of angsty drama and longing, with the lyric’s “boyfriend” reference left intact, it’s an emotional bodyslam. The most stunning moment comes in the last verse. That’s where Braden changes out the song’s last two refrains from “something I’m made for” to “what was I made for.” This seemingly simple move turns an already staggering cover into a heartbreakin’, tear-generatin’ behemoth. — Hope Silverman
2. Allison Russell — Everything I Wanted
Allison Russell sings the second half of this song in Quebecois French, but it’s not a flex. It’s more about reclaiming her past. Russell was raised in Montreal, and her upbringing was defined by extreme abuse and trauma. Returning to Quebecois in this way is an emotionally charged business. And maybe that’s the draw to Eilish’s “everything I wanted.” It’s a song about truly desperate emotions—namely Billie’s experience of suicidal thoughts and psychological instability. As Russell has emerged from years within group projects—she played in Po Girls, Birds of Chicago, and is still in Our Native Daughters—she has turned out highly-acclaimed solo albums that speak up and speak out about her past. Her recent partnerships with high-profile allies like Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, and Hozier make me wonder if a collaboration with Eilish can be far behind? Here’s hoping. — Tom McDonald
1. The Gaslight Anthem — Ocean Eyes
Taking a bedroom pop song and turning it into a rock anthem, or vice versa, is certainly not novel. It’s one of the more common cover song ideas, but, with the right song choice, there’s a decent chance you’ll end up with a passable result. Less common is a cover artist coming away with something that truly stands out.
The Gaslight Anthem knocked it out of the park with this rock-radio-friendly adaptation of Eilish’s early viral hit, “Ocean Eyes.” This was our #1 cover of 2024, and a month later it tops this list too. Brian Fallon’s lead vocals are pushed way up in the mix, backed by chugging guitars that sound like they came out of the mid-aughts emo scene. That’s not to say this sounds dated; rather, it’s a perfect lead into a soaring chorus where Fallon’s voice rockets to the upper register, backed by the heaviest of arena rock riffs. The lyrics work surprisingly well here considering the quiet, multitracked original, and, after a blistering three minutes, it’s over. An oft-deployed concept executed to perfection that stands as a stunning tribute to a great song. — Mike Misch
Great playlist! I would add two more, both covers of Bad Guy:
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine – https://youtu.be/FhRSXju1zeA?si=e-cQTrzjPjxEQRHS
The Interrupters – https://youtu.be/gmRy-JW5aps?si=CJq3o-D_jRlmuy2X