Ever since Kris Allen covered Kanye West’s “Heartless” on

American Idol, I’ve been wondering “can you totally change the feel of a top song and still make it better?” In West’s case, “Heartless” has already been covered by 3 major players;  Mia Carruthers of MTV’s Taking the Stage, A.I’s Kris Allen, and The Fray.  It seems every where I turn I am hearing songs I know with a totally different sound because simple versions of radio’s hit songs are taking over the airwaves and Internet.  Personally I want to switch out the over-synthesized versions for these stripped down, straight up awesome songs. So, clearly the answer is “yes.”

Is Madonna madness slowly killing your soul? Try Boyce Avenue’s version of “4 Minutes”. Love Rhianna but her songs too high energy for every occasion? Never fear, you can still enjoy “SOS” by The Last Shadow Puppets. Is Alicia Keys a little too soulful for you? Then maybe The Honorary Title’s cover of “No One” is more up your alley.

Perhaps you’re more into a guy singing about kissing a girl—no worries, Max Vernon’s version of Katy Perry’s breakout hit reverses roles.

I’ve never been one for the bells and whistles. For me, there’s nothing like listening to an original spin on a popular work. That way I— the rare bird communications major and resident country girl here at OurStage —actually has something slightly “underground” or “emerging” to talk about around the water cooler. I feel a sense of pride when using lingo like “acoustic” and “cover.”  You see, my pop culturalized knowledge of music is comparable to a child coming into an anatomy class only knowing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” because they heard it at nursery school a zillion times. Having said that, I can truly appreciate songs that are a little lesser known, but still relevant. These cover songs are like the covers on my bed, making me feel secure and warm in a cold world of music majors and teenyboppers.

Later this week, you’ll be seeing a blog about songs composed by extraordinarily large bands written by my Community comrade, Aidan. He may argue the point that bigger is better. But I beg the question, “Isn’t less more?”. If something is good, its good, PLAIN and SIMPLE. No need to overcompensate with frills, bows and electric guitar. Stay tuned and see.  I’m sure you’ll be siding with me.