Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" already had significant British connections. If you've kept up with the One Direction reporting of Mstars News' Jon "Union Jack" Niles, you'll know that Swift reportedly wrote the song after her split with Harry Styles. However, the song took a more tasteful British turn when it was covered by London pop star Jessie J.
Those with a decent memory for pop music may remember Jessie from her 2011 album "Who Are You," which featured the singles "Domino" and "Price Tag," both of which made a brief dent into mainstream U.S. radio play. Her second album, "Alive," debuts on September 23 but hasn't quite stirred the water across the pond, although the UK market shows promise. The songstress appeared on BBC Radio 1's "Live Lounge" program and performed her version of the hit Swift track.
Swift's version, which peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, jumps from a very bubbly pop-verse to a harder-rocking refrain, but Jessie J opts to keep the entire song in a mournful ballad. It helps that the British vocalist stuck with a single acoustic guitar for accompaniment. She brings a good deal more tremolo to the track than Swift does/can, although sometime it gets a little much for a song that was ultimately meant to be a country-pop single.
So what version wins? Check out Jessie J's version below, and then you can check out Swift's original if you somehow managed to forget it. The song, alas, won't be available on the former's new album.
