Anna Taylor
Features Editor
If there is one thing you will learn about me, it’s that I am a big fan of song covers. I enjoy hearing different artist’s take on songs that are not their own.
I find the best covers in the most random places, though most of the time I am led to YouTube.
Before I started college I read a tweet that led me to a cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody.” (Side note: This was also before the song was overplayed on the radio.)
What really intrigued me about this particular cover was that it was performed by a female singer and her male acoustic-guitar-playing companion.
In the chorus, the singer Lynzie Kent sings over the instrumental parts, not like Kings of Leon. Kent’s laid-back feel for the music intrigued me. Kent also has exceptional covers of Lady Gaga and Rihanna.
Another female artist I recently discovered through Tumblr is Jayme Dee. The first cover I heard her perform was a mellow version of Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” I don’t like the original version of this song but after listening to Dee’s cover, I appreciated the lyrics a little more.
Dee also performs a great version of Foster The People’s “Pumped Up Kicks.” Her ripe voice does the song well.
Karmin, an engaged musical duo, had a viral hit with their version of Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.” The vocalist, Amy Heidemann, surprised everyone, myself included, with her facial expressions and fast rapping capabilities. I enjoy watching Heidemann because she’s entertaining in a way that no other performer I have seen before. I can hardly look away when I watch her perform, and that’s a capability some of today’s biggest mainstream artists would kill to have.
Since Karmin’s version of “Look at Me Now” became a hit on YouTube, the duo has since appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Saturday Night Live” as musical guests.
The duo’s first studio album is set to debut this April.
Alex Goot is another YouTube star who performs both covers and original songs on the video sharing social network. Everything he does is gold so I’m not going to mention any specific song on his YouTube channel to check out. Look him up and see if you too like his nerd-bird style.
One other YouTube cover star? Boyce Avenue. The male trio’s recently released cover of Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” already has more than 4 million video views. It’s a solid cover.
Boyce Avenue also covers Linkin Park’s “Shadow of the Day,” Bruno Mars’ “Just The Way You Are,” and Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved,” among others on their channel.
The pop-trio is currently touring throughout the United States.
While I only mentioned a few of the hundreds of unique unsigned musicians on YouTube, these are my current favorites.
If I discover someone new, I’m sure you’ll be informed.