Covers better than the originals (imo)
Lately, I have been discovering and finding cover songs that I really love. It started when I was listening to John Mayer’s cover of Free Fallin and thought how some artists make covers their very own! And I honestly think that some cover songs are better than originals but that is pretty rare to find. Like Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi cover by Counting Crows, and Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love cover by Haley Reinhart are not better but more like admirable covers of their iconic originals. But the ones I’m going to list are, in my opinion, better than the original songs.
Hallelujah: Jeff Buckley made Leonard Cohen’s song the true masterpiece that it is. And he did it so well that even Cohen, after listening to it, remarked that this song is no longer his own. This is hands down the best cover song there is and Buckley’s vocals are otherworldly to say the least! Gone too soon man!
What Makes You Beautiful- This is the song that made One Direction a household name all around the world. While the original remains iconic, the cover by The 1975 at the BBC live lounge blew me away. I like the original as much as the next person likes a feel-good pop song. But the cover by The 1975 made me actually fall in love with the song. I already love the band and their original songs, I was not ready for this though. So beautiful and heartbreaking, the complete opposite of how the original sounds.
Girl Crush- The original by Little Big Town is great but I only became aware of it because of Harry Styles’ famous cover of the song. He covered a lot of songs after the release of his first solo album from Kanye’s Ultralight Beam, to Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain, and Lizzo’s Juice. But this one stood out to me definitely.
No Tears Left to Cry- I have always had a bias towards Miley and anything she sings so when she and Mark Ronson (my new fav duo) covered Ariana Grande’s famous pop song at the live lounge with some gorgeous string addition I was blown away. I am very partial to Miley’s voice and she sounded so so amazing and made this song one of my favourites. I didn’t even take this song seriously before her cover and now I keep listening to her cover regularly.
Wonderwall- Oasis’ legendary song is incomparable but, if you need a different vibe then please listen to the very stripped cover by J2 and Miranda Dianne. It’s haunting and absolutely beautiful.