At Music Times, we love a good cover song. There's something wonderful about repurposing music and essentially bringing life to another creation. Music is not a rigid and inflexible product but rather a malleable one that allows songs to take on a new life as other reimagine it. Nothing gets a crowd more excited than seeing one of their favorite bands cover one of their favorite songs. The cover song makes music accessible to new audiences, and spreading music is what we are all about.
Welcome to Freak Friday. Each week we highlight a new cover song that we're crazy about. Have suggestions? Send them our way! This week, we give you...
Song: "Whatever You Like"
Cover Artist: Anya Marina
Original Artist: T.I.
Why We Love it: Marina isn't the first person to turn a rap song into a ballad, but her rendition of "Whatever You Like" shows vulnerability in the lyrics that T.I. wrote. It turns a song that in its original form has a tone of control and confidence ("Anytime you want to pick up the telephone / You know it ain't nothin' to drop a couple stacks on you") into one that shows a sense of insecurity for which he needs to prove himself through his ability to give you anything you want. And her voice is just hauntingly beautiful.
Background:
The song originally appeared as the lead single on T.I.'s sixth studio album Paper Trail in 2008. It went a triple platinum and topped the charts for seven nonconsecutive weeks over a three month span. Having debuted at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100, it set the record for largest jump to the top of the charts in its third week. It remains T.I.'s most successful song to date.
Portland singer-songwriter Marina took a shot at the song the same year, and her cover was even featured on a season three episode of Gossip Girl. Her most recent album, Felony Flats came out in January 2011. Let us know what you think of her "Whatever You Like" cover in the comments section below!
Check it out here:
See her perform it live here:
And revisit the original here:
