What Makes A Great Cover Song?

posted in: Features

We hear cover songs all the time. Entire bands exist for the sole purpose of covering the work of another artist or group. Big name musicians perform the music of their fellow artists all the time to pay tribute to the ones who inspired them. And more recently, we’ve seen up-and-coming singers become famous from posting their cover songs on YouTube. Fourteen-year-old Greyson Chance, who has already released his debut album, got his big break from covering Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” at a school event. OurStage’s duo Karmin has received over 40 million views on one of their captivating and unique hip hop covers. Just a couple of weeks ago, they performed at the iHeartRadio festival among artists such as Lady Gaga and Jay-Z. But with so many people recording and performing cover songs, we have to wonder “what makes the good ones stand out?” We’ve found some of our favorite from the Cover Bands Channel to show you!

Karmin

 

Take, for example, the talented a cappella group called Rockapella, who covered Vampire Weekend‘s hit “A Punk”. The group took a song that is upbeat, fast-paced and performed by a full band, and recreated it with just their voices. Their version is slowed down and focuses on the harmonies created by the members of the group. It sounds more soulful and catches your attention right from the start.

The First June took on OutKast‘s massively popular 2003 song “Hey Ya!” and completely transformed it. Originally a quirky, hip hop song from the group’s album Speakerboxxx / The Love Below, it became almost unrecognizable (in a good way) when stripped it down and simply performed with an acoustic guitar and vocals. We love to hear how different artists interpret other songs!
Justin Thompson decided to pay tribute to Nirvana by covering “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. We love this track because it shows how cover songs can completely switch genres and stand alone as their own song. Thompson takes one of Nirvana’s most popular tracks and turns it into a jazz song with a completely different mood.
A good cover song can get you noticed by millions across the world and it can also lead licensing opportunities! Music supervisors love unique cover songs, not to mention fact that they don’t need a master license for the original song. So, keep submitting your songs to the Cover Bands Channel every month!