Dec 212012
 

Adele dominated the cover song landscape in 2011, but Two-Aught-Twelve saw no similar galvanizing figure. Yes Lana Del Rey got covered a lot, but Leonard Cohen and Arcade Fire also seemed to garner an unexpected landslide of great covers (and speaking of landslides, so did Fleetwood Mac). “Call Me Maybe” was a huge hit that didn’t lead to much in the way of classic covers, and few seem to have even bothered attempting the Korean raps on “Gangnam Style.”

Which means that cover songs in 2012 were more diverse, ambitious, and left-field than ever before. A given YouTube search or Hype Machine browse would be as likely to turn up forgotten hits or underappreciated songwriters as it would the latest Top 40 smash. Find a sampling of all the diversity in Cover Me’s official Best Cover Songs of 2012 countdown. Start with #40-31 on the next page, and check back daily as we’ll be adding more til we hit #1.

Jan 052012
 

Kelis is best remembered in the States for her 2003 hit “Milkshake,” but overseas she’s had a string of Top 10 hits. One such song is “Millionaire,” her 2004 song with André 3000, which hit #3 in Britain yet didn’t even dip a toe in the American charts. Though they hail from Miami, Awesome New Republik aka. ANR seem a bit more hip to Kelis’ work outside of double entendres. Their label Neon Gold (home to Passion Pit and Ellie Goulding) filmed the duo performing their spaced-out cover of the song last month and it’s a joy to watch. Continue reading »