With the power of the Internet, song covers are more accessible than ever. From YouTube covers like Karmin's Look At Me Now and the more recent Taylor Swift mashup, to spaces like Coke Studios in Pakistan and BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in London, it is difficult not to stumble across a song cover while browsing Facebook, Twitter, or even Vine and Instagram.
Although it is easy to think of a cover as mere copy of the original song, talented musicians like the ones linked above show that covers are so much more than imitations. There are a variety of ways to personalize a cover, be it by changing the melody, adding a harmony, or simply singing the song and having it resonate with one's own experience.
A factor all musicians eventually have to consider when deciding to cover a song is how to portray the narrative. Many songs follow a plot consisting of a breakup, falling in love, or any sort of relationship. With these stories come characters— and with these characters come pronouns.
In the past, pronouns in popular American music were predictable. There was always a ‘he’ and a ‘she’ in the story, and other combinations were essentially unheard of. But this lyrical default to heterosexual relationships is starting to shift alongside the changing attitude of the nation. With songs like Mary Lambert’s “She Keeps Me Warm” and A Great Big World’s “Hold Each Other,” combined with the impact of America’s landmark decision on marriage, pronouns are starting to become more varied in mainstream culture.
Covers are a place where artistic expression and the politics of pronouns intersect. How these factors interact with one another are what make the pronoun choices in covers so fascinating. Sometimes replacement pronouns that fit a straight narrative result in an entirely reworked piece that transforms the perspective of the original. Ellie Goulding’s version of “High for This” twists stereotypical norms of masculinity by depicting a drugged scenario where the man takes on a submissive role. “Boyfriend” as covered by Marina and the Diamonds transforms a song about the perfect boyfriend into a dark piece about a negligent and borderline abusive one.
Yet keeping the original pronouns can also have a transformative effect. When Kina Grannis covered the deeply gendered “Rude” by Magic! with no pronoun changes, the antiquated paternalistic father figure transformed into a homophobic father opposed to gay marriage.
But when a cover maintains essentially all parts of the original intact apart from the pronouns, the reasoning behind the decision is worth examining. From a purely artistic outlook, why change the pronouns when it seems like the intention is to keep the original structure? From a psychological standpoint, why is it necessary to change pronouns to begin with? Ultimately, adjusting pronouns to tell a heterosexual story makes little difference. Regardless of the pronouns, the emotion the song evokes will remain constant: a love song will still be about love, and a breakup song will continue to be about a breakup.
