Jan 312025
 

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

This year, Billie Eilish is nominated for a bunch of Grammys. Then again, it feels like you could say that every year. (In fact, I just checked, and you could: She’s been nominated for multiple Grammys every year since 2019). The streak began for her very first album, where she became only the second artist ever to sweep every category in the so-called “Big Four” (after Christopher Cross in 1981) and has continued ever since. She is the ultimate Grammys Darling.

But being a Grammys Darling is perhaps a mixed blessing. Grammys voters are not known for their cool, cutting-edge musical taste (see, again, Christopher Cross). What’s remarkable about Billie Eilish is that her music is cool and cutting edge. She’s not just someone out-of-touch Recording Academy elders think of as a pop star; she is an actual, bonafide pop star! Grammy voters love her, and so do their (grand)kids.

So before this weekend’s awards ceremony, we’re celebrating Billie Eilish our own way: By sharing some great covers of her songs. For an artist with only three full-length albums so far, her songs get covered a lot. Not just the big singles either, though there’s no shortage of those. Album cuts, pre-album singles, loosies, and EP tracks – they’re all here.

And the Coverme goes to…

25. Participants — You Should See Me In A Crown


This cover delivers on the ominous tone of the original, with white noise fizzling in the beginning and firm electric guitar strums getting louder and louder as the song begins. Both the drums and guitar then further punctuate the “one by one by one” lines throughout. There are some subtle changes to the tune in the second verse, and singer Brittany Smith is joined by some haunting background vocals. Smith then goes on to take some vocal runs out for a spin in the ending chorus, fitting for the confidence of “you should see me in a crown.” — Sara Stoudt

24. Shamir — Ocean Eyes

Shamir is fully emergent as that most precious of sounds, the R&B-schooled countertenor. No matter whether the arrangement is lush and physical or lush and GarageBand-created, his voice radiates and shines. He may be looking down on the cover art, but he is soaring vocally. For his version of “Ocean Eyes,” he makes his case that he has fully emerged from his chrysalis by having a butterfly in the background. “I am here and I sound beautiful, and I should be heard.” It’s a wonderful show by a remarkable talent. — Mike Tobyn

23. Saoirse Daly — Bitches Broken Hearts


The original song’s heartfelt message is even more poignant in this cover which keeps things simple, removing the many production elements of the original: The noise interference, the R&B-style background murmurs, the syncopated high hat and drum pedal. Then, that all starts to fade away. The original closes with simple piano, and that could serve as a transition to this more sparse cover. Here it is just Daly and an acoustic guitar, with percussion elements rendered by tapping on the guitar itself. — Sara Stoudt

22. Phoebe Bridgers — When The Party’s Over

“When the Party’s Over” is one of 2018’s most iconic pop music videos. So what happens when an indie-folk artist takes it on? In the hands of Phoebe Bridgers, we are treated to a version with unexpected instrumentation and hard panning. The vocals are featured only on the left side of the track, while a piano with audible action gives the cover a quaint and close-up feel. Finally, ethereal and far-off backup vocals make a cameo. — Aleah Fitzwater

21. Lauren Babic — What Was I Made For?

This cover of the Academy Award-winning theme from Barbie “What Was I Made For” is not technically funny. But when it hits the 1:39 mark, it’s hard not to laugh. That’s the moment when Lauren Babic turns from daydreamy sweetheart to metallic freakin’ monster, unleashes her booming typhoon of a voice and proceeds to knock all and sundry on their asses. This is no endearing novelty, as many metal covers of pop songs tend to be; what Babic is doing here is serious business. Get out of the way or be steamrolled to oblivion. — Hope Silverman

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Dec 202024
 

Follow all our Best of 2024 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

best cover songs of 2024

Welcome to the 50 Best Tom Petty Covers of 2024!

We kid, of course. But for whatever reason, this year’s big trend in covers was: Tom Petty. At one point there were something like 20 Petty covers on our longlist. Many came from two all-star tribute albums that dropped, entirely coincidentally, the same year (they both made our Best Albums list). We narrowed it down, of course. Three Petty covers ended up in this Top 50, one not even from those albums. Then, just this week, another high-profile Petty cover dropped: Snoop and Jelly Roll reworking “Last Dance for Mary Jane”! Suffice to say that one wouldn’t have been a contender even if it hadn’t arrived too late.

That was the big surprise trend in 2024 covers. The less-surprising trend you could have called from a mile out: The new wave of young pop divas—Chappell, Sabrina, Charli—got covered a lot. We could have done an entire 50-song list of their covers, too (the “Good Luck Babe”s alone!). But, if we had, we would have missed out on gospel R.E.M. and country The Weeknd and electropop Mott the Hoople and soul Green Day and… you know what, just read the list.

(Moo-chas gracias and Deng-ke schoen to Hope Silverman for this year’s tiny-hippo art.)

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Apr 012024
 
best cover songs
Aoife O’Donovan — The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (Bob Dylan cover)

Bartees Strange — You Always Hurt The Ones You Love (Mills Brothers cover)

Beyoncé — Blackbird (The Beatles cover)

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Apr 012024
 
gaslight anthem

The Gaslight Anthem is an American punk-rock/indie-rock band from New Jersey comprised of Alex Rosamilia (guitar), Brian Fallon (vox, guitar), Alex Levine (bass), and Benny Horowitz (drums). And recently? The four-piece group decided to take Billie Eilish’s early ballad “Ocean Eyes” and turn it on its head. The idea reportedly came from when lead singer/guitarist Brian Fallon’s daughter turned her dad onto the song. And the rest? History! Continue reading »

Oct 092017
 
american girl covers

On Friday, we rounded up the best Tom Petty covers to come since his passing. And today, we begin to dig deeper into the archives for a series of Petty tributes featuring older covers.

Petty tended to write songs more crisp and economical than many of his peers – no Dylanesque word salad or proggy flights of weird instrumentation – which lent themselves to abundant covers. You could play any number of Petty songs within a few months of picking up a guitar (being able to solo like Mike Campbell – well, that might take a little longer).

There are many amazing Petty deep cuts to mine. Why, just in the past year we’ve heard two fantastic covers of songs from his obscure 2006 solo album Highway Companion (by Jane Kramer and The National). But we figured we’d start with a classic, a song so obvious I was frankly surprised to dig through the archives and discover we hadn’t given it the Five Good Covers treatment years ago. Well, better late than never. Rest in peace, Tom. Continue reading »

Feb 222017
 

Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.

joshi

Jaime Joshi lives in South Florida amidst geckos, 24-hour Cuban coffee and soup-like humidity. She has been writing for Cover Me since 2013; of all her pieces, she is particularly proud of her pieces on Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. (She’s the one on the right.)
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