Never, without exception, is there a reason someone should cover The Beach Boys. Of course, I love me a Fiona Apple cover of Across the Universe, but The Beach Boys is a whole different ball game. One weekend at home, I was walking through my local mall getting some errands done and a Beach Boys cover stopped me in my tracks. There are many kinds of covers one encounters in daily life, and after hearing endless covers of Mac Demarco songs at frat band nights, I have become determined to uncover what makes a good cover and what makes a bad one. What elements contribute to a cover being memorable, powerful, and interesting rather than simply repetitive, or just straight up bad?
I’m mad at A24. Miley Cyrus’s cover of “Psycho Killer” slightly makes me want to, “Run, run, run, run, run, run away.” A24 and Miley Cyrus turned “Psycho Killer” into a perfect Target ad backing track: it’s dancey, orchestral, and painfully corporate. Overall, her covering this avant-garde alternative song doesn’t really fit. Although “Psycho Killer” is popular now, the Talking Heads were not mainstream back then. Miley Cyrus’s cover feels disjointed and random; why would a pop/dance pop artist cover an alternative, post-punk band? One reason that this cover is so disappointing is because A24 was trying to turn Psycho Killer into something it isn’t, never was, and shouldn’t become— a pop song. Many covers struggle with being bad for a few reasons…
Going back to my first example, all the covers heard at frat band nights (and band nights in general) usually won’t be the worst cover you ever hear, what I call mimic covers. Covers that drastically and intentionally change the sound of the original are what I call mature covers. The first type of covers will try to mimic the original song as closely as possible through guitar tabs, whatever pedals they have, and a borrowed drum kit. Overall, not unlistenable. However, because the goal of a mimic cover is to closely replicate the song, these will also not incorporate any elements of what make a great cover.
Moody, depressed, and self-reflective were not the feelings that Carly Rae Jepsen’s legendary “Call Me Maybe” song made me feel in 2012. JPEGMAFIA transforms 3 minutes of sugar pop sweetness into 6 minutes of, comparatively, something otherworldly. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” should be forever loved for what it is, a throwback, but JPEGMAFIA successfully and skillfully adapted this 2012 classic. It just feels right. This might be the most well done mature cover I will bring up, so how did he do it?
One of the most important aspects of a good cover is that it is intentional. What is the artist trying to say by covering this song? What are they trying to convey? Are they conveying similar emotions with different methods, or completely changing the emotions conveyed in the original song? When someone is covering a song just to do so, or is being instructed to cover a song, the listener can tell, and the result will most likely be unremarkable and unmemorable. What makes a memorable and mature cover as opposed to just a good cover, or mimic cover, is giving the listener a different experience. Like the previously mentioned “Psycho Killer” cover, it’s clear that A24 and Miley Cyrus didn’t approach their cover with clear creative vision, intentionality, or inspiration. The song feels like a name drop and the listener knows it. Sadly, Miley Cyrus is no better than a frat boy with this cover – covering a track just because you think it’s good isn’t going to cut it. A cover slightly better than the traumatic “Psycho Killer” is Kim Petras’s cover of “Running up that Hill” (original song by Kate Bush). Petras gets us closer to an acceptable cover, although not by much. When I first heard Petras’s version, I was shocked to hear it wasn’t Bush singing. It was so parallel to the original song I hadn’t even noticed. Now here, you might make the argument that it is better to try to reinvent a cover than to exactly mimic it—but I disagree. I would rather have a million replicas of any Men I Trust song over a few scarring covers of classics. (Sorry not sorry.)
One of the aspects I appreciate about a quality cover is the difference between the voices of the original artist and the cover artist. Voice literally sets the tone for the song, and someone’s natural voice has so much impact on the natural emotion they put into the song. The natural voice of the singer of the original song and cover don’t need to be similar, but rather the opposite. When a cover artist’s voice is drastically different from the original singers, this already sets up the cover to be more interesting, distinguishable, and memorable. Furthermore, when a singer’s voice naturally fits a genre that the original song was from this also sets the tone for a good cover. For example, the 1967 song Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli is much different from the 1998 Lauryn Hill cover. Valli’s song is a pop soul love song, he sings this love song with affection and flattery. With drawn out violins and a mid tempo percussion section the listener believes Valli adores the person he is singing about. As the chorus builds the listener is thrown into full fledged feelings of infatuation and an undeniable love confession. His tone changes throughout the song, starting out with a soft almost croon-like few verses, and later building to a full on belting. As the song progresses it feels as though Valli is realizing how deep his feelings are, begging the listener to “let me love you”, Valli’s belting makes the listener believe that he is truly unable to avert his eyes from the subject, the song is over the top and endlessly romantic. Lauryn Hill’s iconic R&B cover of the same song demonstrates how a drastically different voice encourages an interesting cover. Her voice is naturally inclined to soul and R&B, it is much richer and warm than Valli. Because of this, her rendition creates a much more sensual sounding song. It is poetic and optimistic, but it is not longing, over the top, confession-like. Her rendition sounds affirming, rather than confessing. Accompanied by a laid back bass line, this song is despairing and romantic, the crescendos are not as booming or show-stopping, creating a smoother and more sensual listening experience. The natural sound of Hill’s voice already sets her up to convey a vastly different set of emotions as opposed to the original. Although a very different voice is not necessary for a quality cover, it helps force the artist to take on a different interpretation, persona, and story when singing a song they cannot naturally perfectly recreate.
I encourage weird covers, and think they force the most creativity. JPEGMAFIA’s cover of “Call Me Maybe,” checks all the boxes above. Some of the most interesting covers also match the context of the original song. Time is cyclical, and bands that intentionally choose to cover bands that were in a similar context. Pop artists have no business covering subversive bands of the past for no apparent reason (we can see through you Miley Cyrus). It is obvious when pop artists cover subversive artists in order to pay tribute, cite, or bring attention to lesser known yet canonical artists. Most covers have the issue that they are not attempting to situate the song for a new audience, they are just replicating the sounds on the recording exactly, which should not be the goal of a cover. Covers should give people a reason to remember them, and the way to do that is not to exactly copy instruments used, tempo, intonation, attitude, etc. If one does do this the cover should be immediately void, one is setting themselves up for failure through the goal of exact replication, because it is an impossible (and boring) goal.
Written by Mary Luce
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