Though not their biggest hit when it came out – topping out at 24 – “Close to Me” became one of The Cure’s biggest hits over time. It’s one of only four of their singles to go platinum in the UK and is their 4th most streamed song. It’s pretty distinct in their catalogue for lacking guitar and featuring toy keyboards and a horn section (and an even more prominent horn section in the popular 1990 remix, which actually reached higher on the UK singles chart).
Lola Young is a young British singer-songwriter famous for a cover of a Giorgio Moroder song she performed for a John Lewis Christmas ad (which is a really big deal in the UK). A few years later, she’s taken on this bigger song for Australian radio station Triple J’s famous covers series “Like a Version.”
Young’s cover opens completely differently from the original, with some softly strummed, effects-heavy guitar playing around the melody. Young herself sings the vocal line more dramatically than Robert Smith’s whisper. The main toy keyboard part is played on guitar. The pace is slow.
But, nearly two minutes in, the louder guitar takes the main melody line and Young lets loose. The vibe completely changes and it turns into almost a celebration, which is fitting given the horn solos in the original. And then the song ends as it begins, with a slow coda.
It’s a spirited take on the original which manages to both change the overall feel of the sound but also preserve at least some of the feel. Check it out:
