This week, our writing team wanted to take the chance to think of some of our favorite song covers! From Clairo covering songs from the 60s, to Olivia Rodrigo covering New England’s own Noah Kahan, all of these songs both pay homage and give new life to the original song!
“Love Songs” by Clairo
Jazzy, calming, almost psychedelic – Clairo takes all the components of Margo Guryan’s “Love Songs” and enhances them in her 2024 cover of the song, done for a compilation of artists covering Guryan’s 1968 album Take a Picture. A little more upbeat, a little funkier, Clairo puts her own spin on the song with her lilting high voice. Though the instrumental doesn’t stray far from the original, Clairo adds a low bass and jaunty synth situation. Where the original evokes an almost melancholic tone to match with the hook, “Pretty love songs always makes me cry,” Clairo’s version enunciates the irony of crying in the joy of springtime, the season of the song.
– Goonja Basu, Staff Writer
“Friday I’m In Love” by Phoebe Bridgers
From Olivia Rodrigo to Yo La Tengo to Glee Cast, The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” is undoubtedly one of the most covered songs from the band, if not in the genre as a whole. However, one of the best renditions of the song comes from Phoebe Bridgers, recorded in 2018 for a Spotify Singles session. The original song features a rock melody paired with frankly depressing yet romantic lyrics, evoking a sense of teenage yearning. Bridgers significantly slows down the song and strips it to its bare bones with a piano melody. The song builds up the bridge, passion echoing through the “You can never get enough / enough of this stuff / It’s Friday I’m in love.” Her version feels deep and personal, timeless in a different way than The Cure intended it to be.
– Goonja Basu, Staff Writer
“Across the Universe” by Fiona Apple
Fiona Apple has always possessed a gift for reimagining the classics, and her interpretation of “Across the Universe” was, to me, one of her most striking achievements. I discovered this song in Pleasantville (1998), a peculiar dystopian film draped in 1950s suburbia, and her rendition feels almost destined for the film’s melancholic setting.
What makes her version remarkable is how it elevated rather than merely echoes the Beatles original. Her signature vocals carry a wistfulness that the pristine ’50s aesthetic of the film only amplifies. It’s as though she has found something in the song that was always there and brought it to the foreground. There’s something fitting, then, that NASA chose to beam the original Beatles recording toward Proxima Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor. The melody that sings of floating downstream becomes literal and echoes across the universe.
– Kelly Cheng, Staff Writer
“Moon River” by Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean’s 2018 cover of Audrey Hepburn’s “Moon River” is one of the most beautifully reimagined covers in my recent memory. The original, featured in Hepburn’s magnum opus Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), explores the duality of romantic desire that is embodied through the river’. Audrey yearns to surrender to the river, despite the peril of drowning in it. Frank’s rendition of the song adds even more depth to this complexity. Known for his melancholic, experimental artistry, Frank uses autotuned falsettos layered over his natural voice to create an internal dialogue with himself. His high-pitched vocals romanticize the fantasy of “two drifters off to see the world,” while his grounded lower register interjects: “There’s such a crazy world you’ll see / We’re all chasin’ after our ends.” With this vocal interplay, Frank transforms Audrey’s original meditation on love into an almost visceral tension between yearning and disillusionment, something that only an artist on Frank Ocean’s level could achieve.
– Kelly Cheng, Staff Writer
“Knockin On Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan
Knockin on Heavens Door by Bob Dylan (1983) has been covered by many famous artists such as Guns n Roses (1990) and Dolly Parton (1997). They all have their own unique spin, but one of my favorite covers by far is Sophie Thatchers. Thatcher slows the song down, giving it a sad, exhausted feeling, almost like she’s struggling to sing the lyrics. Her voice is the perfect mixture of heavy and smooth, and you can’t help but feel as if you’re being carried into her melancholy state. Her cover is featured in the end credits for the psychological horror film Heretic (2024), which Sophie Thatcher stars in. The song matches the tone of the movie well, serving as the perfect background music as you reflect on the heavy aspects of the movie after a watch. I would highly recommend giving Knockin on Heavens Door by Sophie Thatcher a listen, as well as her other music!
– Elizabeth Golaski, Staff Writer
“Stick Season” by Olivia Rodrigo
One of my favorite traditions in the BBC Live Lounge is the surprise cover an artist will pull out at the end of their setlist. Recently, artists like Sabrina Carpenter covering Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”, SOMBR covering Lorde’s “RIbs”, and Olivia Dean covering Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not” have taken the internet by storm. There’s nothing like a good cover, and discovering you and your favorite artist are listening to the same artists, that gives a song a new life. A great example of this is Olivia Rodrigo’s cover of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” during her BBC session in 2023. I, personally, am always a fan of a little genre bending, and Olivia Rodrigo, though well-suited in her pop-rockstar aesthetic, lent herself well to a more folk-leaning sound on “Stick Season”. Her smooth vocals, equipped with the perfect amount of twang, were a refreshing change from Kahan’s raspy and emotional cadence. While Rodrigo lacks Kahan’s New England vibe that really gives the tune it’s magic, her cover is a dazzling rendition of an already lovely song.
One of the best parts of this cover, however, is the moment it created. Kahan and Rodrigo are an unlikely pair- after all, how much can a mountain man and a pop star have in common? Apparently a lot. Kahan went on to cover Rodrigo’s “Lacy” in the BCC live lounge a year later, introducing banjo and his smooth folk sound to Rodrigo’s indie ballad. Later that same year, they kept the fun going and went on to meet up at Rodigo’s show at Madison Square Garden and sing “Stick Season” together. With Rodrigo and Kahan both hard at work on their next albums, let’s hope they had enough fun to keep collaborating!
– Avieana Rivera, Music Coordinator
“Loving You” by Her’s
One of my favorite indie bands of all time has to be Her’s. Despite their tragic story, the music they made before they passed, to me, is legendary. The indie duo of Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Landing manage to make every song unique and their own. Whether it be on their album, Invitation to Her’s, or their singles like “What Once Was,” and of course, their cover of “Loving You.” This cover perfectly encapsulates everything that the band Her’s is all about. From Fitzpatrick’s deep, beautifully distorted voice, to Landing’s hypnotizing bassline, Her’s makes this song their own. The original version of “Loving You” by Minnie Riperton has more of a soul feel to it, but Her’s pays homage to that in their cover as well. The soft drumming in the background along with the aforementioned smooth vocals takes us back to that period in music.
This version of the song is special to me for a number of reasons. Her’s is one of the first indie bands that I ever fell in love with, and this song is one of the best introductions to them that I could possibly think of. Also, the story of Her’s is one that is so deeply steeped in tragedy, and beautiful songs like this help keep their memory alive.
– Fenton Wright, Web Services Coordinator
