Covering songs can be a daring feat. To create a successful cover, not only does an artist have to do the song justice, but they also have to find a way to make it their own at the same time. Recently, 40-year-old rocker and producer, Ryan Adams, released his own take on Taylor Swift’s entire current album, "1989."
Now, I know what you’re thinking: who would dare recreate such a beautiful pop masterpiece such as "1989?" Especially when the princess of pop created the masterpiece in question. Well, as it turns out, Ryan Adams, that’s who, and he’s received both praise and flack for doing so.
Whether people are happy with his song-for-song rocker cover of "1989," or not, it’s getting him, and his music noticed in a competitive and cut-throat business. As for whether he’s done justice to one of the biggest albums of the year, that’s up for listener interpretation, but one thing that is for sure, is that he made every song on the album 100 percent his own.
Although Adams has been receiving a great amount of attention for his Swift cover, he isn’t the only artist taking part in the T-Swizzle cover game. Here’s a list of Taylor Swift Covers that are (almost) as good as the original (because let’s be real, no one does Taylor Swift like Taylor Swift).
"Blank Space" covered by Ryan Adams
Here's one from the "1989" cover-man Ryan Adams himself. His take on "Blank Space" definitely does not give off the "let me make a cool ass music video of me frolicking in a mansion and smashing my ex boyfriend's car" kinda vibe, but it's soft rock style is perfect to listen to when unwinding after a long say of classes.
"1989" covered by Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying of Pentatonix
Like Adams, two of the members of a cappella super group, Pentatonix, who are currently on tour with Kelly Clarkson, decided to cover all of "1989," just in a more condensed fashion. Watch the duo sing every song off the hit album in less than four minutes.
"Out Of The Woods" covered by Savannah Outen feat. Jake Coco
Savannah Outen, who had a small stint with Radio Disney back in 2008, now posts beautiful covers of other artist's songs to YouTube. Her music is available on both iTunes and Spotify. Here is her acoustic version of "Out Of The Woods".
"4 Taylor" by Todrick Hall
Broadway and YouTube star Todrick Hall just handed his own MTV show about how he makes videos just like this one, in which he covers too many Swift songs to even count.
"Shake It Off" covered by Us The Duo
This husband and wife musical duo transformed the upbeat and dance-party-worthy "Shake It Off" with their own harmonious folk-pop flare. They even took a deeper meaning to the song's lyrics, which they reflected into their music video for the tune.
"Bad Blood" a cappella cover by Sam Tsui
Tsui, who has over two million loyal subscribers on his music YouTube channel, made a music video of him singing "Bad Blood" with...himself. Check out Sam Tsui x5 singing every vocal part to this Taylor Swift hit.
"Blank Space" and "Style" Mashup covered by Louisa Wendorff
And of course, how could we talk about Taylor Swift covers without mentioning this gem that has over 27 million views on YouTube. This mashup caught the attention of Swifty herself last December, and is still as catchy as ever.