BackIn other voices | BBC Radio 1 ‘Live Lounge’
On 'Live Lounge', popular artistes cover songs by their contemporaries, often putting a new spin on the tracks
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Covering another artiste’s song can be a tricky proposition for a musician. Stick too closely to the original track and you might end up sounding like a wedding band; deviate too far from the melody and you will be accused of being self-indulgent.
For listeners, the cover is an exciting opportunity to hear a popular song in someone else’s voice, perhaps even in a different mood. That is why so many people tune into BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, a radio segment on which popular artistes and bands perform one of their own songs and one cover live from the Radio 1 studios in London, UK.
The covers are the show’s main attraction, and you can listen to all of them online, either on the BBC iPlayer Radio or on the BBC Radio 1 YouTube channel. Live Lounge has been going strong since 2007, and this year has already seen some memorable takes on contemporary songs.
You know some performances are going to be interesting just by reading the artiste’s choice of song to cover—for instance, when you hear R&B singer Miguel is doing a version of punk band Slaves’ Hey. Miguel doesn’t disappoint, letting his silky voice glide over the morbid lyrics, which are screamed out in the original song.
A cover becomes truly memorable when the song takes on a different character in the hands of a new artiste. As happens in British electro-pop band Years & Years’ take on The Weeknd’s Earned It. While The Weeknd’s version, the lead single for the Fifty Shades Of Grey soundtrack, is dramatic and dark, Years & Years’ take is much lighter and has a beat you can groove to.
Other covers to catch from this year’s Live Lounge episodes are rock band Enter Shikari’s performance of Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole, which is similar to the original for the first 2 minutes, before exploding in a burst of distorted vocals and guitars; singer-songwriter Rhodes’ softer, slower version of Florence + The Machine’s Ship To Wreck; and Birdy’s stripped-down version of Norwegian DJ Kygo’s Firestone.
While you’re listening to the new performances on Live Lounge, you may as well dig up some classic covers from the show. Florence + The Machine took Beyoncé’s Halo and turned it from a pretty love song into a palpable wail for deliverance; Jared Leto’s raspy growling on Rihanna’s Stay brings out a desperation the original fails to capture; and Ella Henderson’s quivering voice makes A Great Big World’s Say Something a story of despair.
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