Covers can be tricky. In fact, I don’t even like the term “cover” for what I’ve done with classic songs.
I prefer to call them “interpretations," since it’s my spin on a well-loved, well-known song.
Some people prefer originals only (which I totally understand!) or say that if it’s going to be a cover, it needs to be as close as possible.
But if you’ve followed me for a while, you know I love reimagining old songs in a way that makes you hear them differently.
I’ve done this with multiple covers by The Beatles (my all-time favorite band) and other various artists on my YouTube channel.
When I create covers, I try to balance between keeping a lot of the original melody (that made it popular in the first place), but creating different instrumentation and chord progressions so it feels like its own version instead of a “close to the original” version.
I guess in a way, I’m more “re-imagining” the song instead of covering it.
In my opinion, a great song is a great song, no matter the instrumentation.
And it’s cool to see how these tried and true tunes stand the test of being put into a totally different context (up tempo to really melancholy and sad).
Most recently, I worked with my friend, Ryan Corn, a great writer and producer, to create sad piano covers of three songs that were originally up-tempo. Despite their original sound, their lyrical content was surprisingly sad when given a different treatment.
So Ryan and I created sad piano covers of:
Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar
Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne
Tearin’ Up My Heart by *NSYNC
Crazy Train, if you didn’t know, is actually about mental health. Though written a few decades ago, the words of this song are as relevant as ever.
While sad piano covers aren’t for everyone, I think you might be surprised (I was!) at how the meaning of a song can become clearer when it’s interpreted in a new way.
I like to say I’m a happy girl who likes sad songs. Maybe you can relate!
Anyways, thanks for reading my thoughts and making it this far! I felt inspired, so I made a whole playlist of sad piano covers by other artists that you can listen to here. Happy, or I guess I should say sad, listening!