One of my favourite things is seeing bands play tribute to other musicians as a part of their live shows, something Coldplay have a good track record of doing. While performing in Vienna, lead singer Chris Martin made reference to Taylor Swift‘s cancelled shows in the city, and asked Maggie Rogers and two dedicated Swifties from the audience to join him in a cover of Swift’s massive hit “Love Story.” Continue reading »
Weird Al Yankovic has been quiet on the new music front for about a decade after Mandatory Fun, his last studio album, was released in 2014. So his newest single “Polkamania!” has smashed together some of the last decade’s biggest hits, all in the style of his signature medley genre, a polka.
But which songs are covered in Weird Al’s “Polkamania”?
There’s not much to say about this song sonically – all the covers are straightforward, but done in a polka style, with the exception of “WAP,” which cleverly utilizes sound effects to get the same message across.
Definitely one the Weird Al fans will love, but there’s enough silliness in here for everyone else as well.
“We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was, like, only Taylor Swift‘s fourth biggest hits of the 10s despite going six times Platinum in the US and nine times Platinum in Australia. Somehow, three other singles were bigger in both countries. But it’s clear this one made an impact, because old school Aussie rock band The Screaming Jets have covered it ahead of Swift’s Australian leg of her Eras Tour.
The Screaming Jets are one of those bands that are huge in their native country but kind of unknown outside of it. They have released nine albums and numerous singles since 1989 (infamously the year of Swift’s birth), and they have multiple Top 40 Aussie hits (including one Top 5) but zero chart presence in the rest of the world. They would seem like an unlikely band to cover Swift except that her popularity is world-conquering at this point. Legendary Australian radio station Triple J assembled a group of Australian bands that would unexpectedly cover Swift ahead of her latest tour of Australia and The Screaming Jets answered the call. Continue reading »
The emotional highpoint of the Grammys—well, other than Tracy Chapman’s return (covers-adjacent!)–was Annie Lennox’s tribute to Sinéad O’Connor during the In Memoriam. Bonus points because she was backed by two longtime bandmembers of Prince (who, of course, wrote the song), Wendy and Lisa. The teardrop on Lennox’s eye was very Prince, and the political statement at the end was very Sinéad. Continue reading »
This week Australian ABC’s Like a Version gave us Aussie Rocker G Flip covering Taylor Swift’s track “Cruel Summer,” while US country star Teddy Swims took on the trending song in the UK’s BBC Live Lounge. Both the Live Lounge and Like a Version are staples of this website in terms of providing covers for us to talk about, but it’s rare that we get two different artists covering the same song in the same time period. Continue reading »