May 012012
 

Best (So Far) finds the finest first-round covers of the latest pop hits.

To American fans of pop music, Carly Rae Jepsen may seem to have come out of nowhere with her hit “Call Me Maybe.” For Canadian listeners, however, Jepsen has been on the pop radar since placing third on the fifth season of Canadian Idol, and she’s been releasing music there since 2008. It was “Call Me Maybe,” though, that launched her to international stardom. Continue reading »

Dec 012011
 

Best (So Far) finds the finest first-round covers of the latest pop hits.

Since its release this past September, Rihanna’s “We Found Love” has become a bonafide hit. With the help of Scottish DJ and singer Calvin Harris, the massively successful Barbadian-born pop star dropped this addictive dance track as the lead single off her most recent album, Talk That Talk. “We Found Love” soon skyrocketed to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, clinching the spot for nearly 9 weeks. Continue reading »

Jan 262011
 

Back in November we presented our ten favorite lesser-known Britney Spears covers. Early-aughts nostalgia reigned with radically altered takes on classic hits like “Oops…I Did It Again!” and “Toxic.” Well, Britney’s back, and so are we. “Hold It Against Me” turns one terrible pickup line into four minutes of guilty-pleasure pop. The single only dropped two weeks ago, but, it being Britney and all, artists have hopped on the cover bandwagon with a speed we haven’t seen since “F*** You.” Continue reading »

Sep 062010
 

The twenty-first century has devalued the “song of the summer” concept something fierce. With listeners increasingly fractured into obscure niches, no song unites the culture the way the Beach Boys or Four Seasons did back in the day. Even if you hated those songs, they were a part of your summer experience. After all, loathing counts as an experience.

Speaking of loathing…“California Gurls.” If there was a song that dominated summer 2010, that was it. It’s a simple formula. Katy Perry + singing about chicks = summer smash. That wasn’t the only summer ‘010 hit though. There were the indie summer jams, of which we’ve got a couple, as well as the hits blaring from car radios. Even if you consider yourself above the Top 40, odds are you’ve heard these one way or another: over the supermarket PA, at a minor-league ball game, or from the crappy iPod speakers serenading the couple next to you at the beach. So while these may or may not have defined your personal summer, they come to as close to universal as it gets these days. You can run, you can hide, but you can’t escape these songs.*

*Summer Song ’02 reference. Continue reading »

Jun 252010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Michael Jackson died one year ago today. You probably already know this. Cover Me celebrates the anniversary today with a whole lot of MJ. Starting now.

Alex Goot’s YouTube covers have amassed over a million views collectively, his pro-grade takes on pop songs displaying unabashed enthusiasm. His “Beat It” video recalls Pomplamoose’s widely-viewed cover, but Goot has one thing over them: syncopated clapping. It offsets the slightly ominous piano nicely. Plus, it being YouTube, any artist that can actually produce a bearable-to-watch video gets mad props. Almost better than the original (just kidding).
Continue reading »