Meet Prince Royce (Geoffrey Royce Rojas), the American singer who blends the sounds of Latin music with R&B, bachata, and more, along with a sprinkle of pop. He went wildfire over a decade ago for his cover of “Stand By Me.” And now he’s a global sensation. One of his more recent covers, “I Want It That Way,” takes a tune from 1999 and turns it bachata.
So, what is bachata anyway? This unique Dominican genre often includes Spanish-style guitar, bolero, and dance-worthy rhythms. Traditionally, a bachata song has romantic lyrics, which makes this new cover of “I Want It That Way” even more fitting. Continue reading »
Benson Boone gets clowned on, but dude can sing (and, yes, backflip). “When We Were Young” is not exactly an easy song to nail. But, at a tour stop in Columbus, he did just that—one of many covers he’s been doing on the road.
BRAINSTORM — The Boys Of Summer (Don Henley cover)
Every summer comes, inevitably, more “Boys of Summer” covers. This metal-ish version comes from German power-metal vets BRAINSTORM (all caps so you know they’re serious). Singer Andy B. Franck says: “Even though ‘The Boys Of Summer’ deals with rather nostalgic themes of ‘summer love’ and the memory of a past relationship, for me – at the time a 13-year-old – it was, beyond the metal anthems of the 80s, a great song that I associated with summer, girls and the corresponding feeling for many, many years…Even today, this song still evokes great memories for me, and since it’s also a song about questioning the past, this track fits perfectly into our times.”Continue reading »
“Just Want You to Know” was first released by the Backstreet Boys in 2005, and is the second single off the album Never Gone. Known for its straight-up rock sound, this track features vocal ad-libs and features an official music video that recreates the ’80s to a T. The melody is simple, earwormish, backed up by a steady underlying eighth-note rhythm and sturdy, catchy beat.
Downcast of Bristol, England, took this nostalgic song and ran with it. They’ve made it sonically tailored for all those ’90s and early 2000s kids out there. Now, “Just Want You to Know” is a love song that has been imbued with a touch of angst. While the basic shell of the song is the same, these artists have now added harmonies, vocal distortion, and a deeper, richer, and more prominent bassline.Continue reading »
The Finnish metal scene’s breadth, depth and vibrancy means it can be difficult to stick out from the crowd. Blind Channel have found a path and have been making their way successfully for a decade, and are currently on a European Tour. They have just released a fan-favorite live song, their modified version of Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” to mark the dates.Continue reading »
At a recent show in Gothenburg, Sweden, English pop superstars Coldplay led the crowd in a rousing rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” Played during the last quarter of their set, between an acoustic version of “In my Place” and the track “Humankind” from their most recent album, lead singer Chris Martin begins by playing around on the piano to arrive at the iconic melody line.Continue reading »
‘The Best Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.
2020 marks a number of twenty-year anniversaries in music, but perhaps nothing as much as the extremely turn-of-the-millenium phenomenon of the boy band. At the start of the year, NSYNC set a first-week sales record with No Strings Attached. At the end of it, Backstreet Boys set their own sales record with Black & Blue. No one before or since sold CDs like boy bands sold CDs. Even the year’s other huge artists seemed defined in reaction to boy bands; Eminem dissed boy bands in seemingly half of his songs, while Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst was constantly starting feuds with them. It was that kind of year.
Because boy bands had their detractors. Boy oh boy, did they have their detractors. I was a 13-year old in 2000, and I remember the arguments dominating middle school hallways. But whether you were a fanatic or a skeptic, it’s hard to argue that, stripped of the love-it-or-hate-it presentation, the songs were rock solid (melodically, if not always lyrically). I imagine every one of us has gotten some of these stuck in our head – even if we didn’t want them there.
So rather than picking just one artist, we decided to pay tribute to the entire genre. We didn’t limit it to songs from the year 2000, but we did limit it to the phenomenon that 2000 represents. Though you can make a fair argument that The Beatles and Jackson 5 were boy bands, including groups like that would render this list pretty meaningless. Every artist here fits a pretty strict definition of a boy band, even if they came just before the genre’s cultural peak (New Edition) or after it (One Direction).
So everybody, rock your body with the 25 best boy band covers ever.
