Nelly Furtado Archives

The 50 Best Cover Songs of 2025

Posted by Staff at 9:00 am 2 Responses »

Dec 192025

Follow all our Best of 2025 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

Last year’s unexpected theme was Tom Petty covers. For no obvious reason, he popped up again and again on our 2024 year-end list. And whaddya know, Tom’s back this year, with two more Petty covers on our list. This year, however, he is not the most-covered artist on our list.

That’s a tie between two artists, one extremely of-the-moment, one timeless. With three covers apiece, Chappell Roan and Neil Young share the most-best-covered crown. (Artists with two covers apiece this year, in addition to Petty, are Gillian Welch, John Prine, and—this one’s surprising—Nelly Furtado!)

Spoiler alert: None of those appears in the number-one position. Number one covers an artist who I don’t think has ever appeared on one of our year-end lists. But don’t skip ahead. There are 49 equally (well, almost) as good covers to get through first, spanning genres and sounds and eras and ages. Here we go.

Cover art by Hope Silverman

The Best Cover Songs of October 2025

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:00 am 1 Response »

Oct 312025

The Dollyrots — You Don’t Own Me (Lesley Gore cover)

“It’s My Party” was the bigger hit, but these days it feels like “You Don’t Own Me” gets covered more. It’s become something of a feminist anthem (probably an unlikely future for “It’s My Party”…). Dollyrots singer Kelly Ogden said, in sharing her band’s new revved-up cover, “The song is an anthem for female empowerment, about willing to be defiant in the face of something that’s just plain wrong. Sadly, it’s still just as timely as when Lesley sang it over 60 years ago.”

Folk Bitch Trio — Sex on Fire (Kings of Leon cover)

Remember “Sex on Fire”? Gotta be one of the dumbest singles of the 21st century. Folk Bitch Trio covered it for Like a Version, and they, against all odds, manage to redeem it. “It’s an underrated song,” they said. “It rocks. It’s filthy without you really knowing. The Folk Bitch Trio twist is kind of easy: We just sing it in three-part harmony, lock in, look at each other and we’re there.” Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of March 2025

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:14 pm 1 Response »

Mar 312025

Cher — Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn cover)

Cher’s pushing 80, but, as seen most recent on the SNL 50th concert, she can still command a stage like nobody’s business. At the recent Love Rocks benefit concert in NYC, she reprised her ‘90s “Walking in Memphis” cover, complete with full Elvis costume, pompadour very much included.

Dååth ft. Paul Masvidal from Cynic – Run (Air cover)

A heavy-metal cover of the least heavy group of all time (they are French, after all): Air. Dååth (you “know it’s heavy with that punctuation in the name) writes: “Our version of “Run” has been a long time coming. It’s a creepy, weird song I’ve wanted to cover since I first heard it… This is a weird song. If you haven’t heard it, listen to the original, then ours. To do it justice, we needed an unconventional mix that could also go full metal. Gautier Serre, of Igorrr, was the obvious choice. If he can handle Igorrr, he can handle this—and being French, he already knew the song. The result is truly unique. If you’re expecting pure extreme metal, you might be disappointed—and that’s fine, because we do what we want.” Continue reading »

Good Kid Cover “I’m Like a Bird” as New York Indie Rock

Posted by Riley Haas at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Mar 132025

“I’m Like a Bird,” Nelly Furtado‘s breakout single from her debut album, was actually a bigger hit in the US than in her home country of Canada, but it made a big enough of an impression that fellow Canadians Good Kid, from the other side of the country, chose to cover “I’m Like a Bird” for The Juno Sessions, a series of Canadian bands covering Juno-winning hits from previous years. Good Kid are an indie rock band from Toronto who have been putting out music for a decade but who were just kids when “I’m Like a Bird” first came out. Continue reading »

Dead Pony Turn Nelly Furtado’s “Maneater” Into a Mosh Pit Anthem

Posted by Brendan Shanahan at 12:11 pm No Responses »

Dec 152022

Up and coming British indie-rockers Dead Pony’s latest single is a rocked up version of Nelly Furtado’s mid 00s classic “Maneater.” Said the band: “Maneater was always one of those iconic songs and I remember thinking it was so cool and fun. At the time we recorded it we were listening to a lot of early 00’s music like N.E.R.D, Justin Timberlake & Limp Bizkit so we took a lot of influence from those sounds.” Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of November 2020

Posted by Ray Padgett at 4:09 pm No Responses »

Nov 302020

Ashley McBryde – You’re Lookin’ at Country (Loretta Lynn cover)

The Country Music Hall of Fame recently presented a video series called Big Night at the Museum, getting modern country and Americana artists to cover Hall of Famers. Lucinda Williams did Johnny Cash, Miranda Lambert did John Prine, and a bunch more. Best by a blonde-streaked hair was Ashley McBryde, a performer who skirts the line between country, Americana, and brawny rock, proving her bona fides on Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Lookin’ at Country.” Continue reading »