We all have a song that we love that is a tad cheesy. Despite that, we’d love some of the hottest talent around to cover one of our guilty pleasure songs live. From the big names to the up-and-coming, our writers cover what they’d love to see performed and by who!
Taylor Swift – ‘Potential Breakup Song’
Aly & AJ’s ‘Potential Breakup Song’ is already a tune by itself; play that anywhere and you’ll get everyone dancing along. It’s the perfect ‘screw you’ song to all those terrible exes the majority of us have. That’s why I think it would be the PERFECT song for breakup song queen, Taylor Swift. Can you imagine the power of Taylor singing this song, especially in a concert setting? Unbeatable. It fits in perfectly with her already great roster of breakup songs, from ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’, to ‘Bad Blood’, to ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’… the list goes on. Not to mention, its blatancy also feels in a way like a bit of a screw you to the media for their own fixation on Swift’s relationships, with them often taking centre stage over Swift’s actual music, at least in the Red and 1989 eras. For a covers section of a concert, ‘Potential Breakup Song’ is just the perfect fit for Swift, and I can tell that she’d absolutely kill it. – Alice Fortt
HAIM – ‘Untouched’
The Veronicas’ hit ‘Untouched’ was one of the biggest songs around in 2007 and boy, it still hits 14 years later! From the combination of strings with that of the heavy guitar riff and synth-pop beat, it is so late 2000s it is definitely cringe-worthy. With that being said, the angst it gives off is of course valid. I’d love to see the lovely ladies of HAIM cover it in another Triple J performance. They would strip away a lot of what makes it distinct to that era in music and start again from almost scratch. HAIM are also indie, so adding that into the mix will make the song their own. I imagine it would top their Shania Twain ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’ cover because they are not only doing an acoustic version, but the genre change creates a more complex problem that I know the band can overcome with ease! – Jo Lisney
Paramore – ‘7 Things’
Paramore is known for their alt-pop, screaming in songs and most importantly Hayley Williams’ ability to alter and make every song sound better live. Who else is lowkey a rock queen and would pair perfectly with the band? Miley Cyrus, which is why her anthem ‘7 Things’ would be an unforgettable Paramore performance. Whether Cyrus joined the performance or not (which would be an out-of-this-world combination), Hayley could definitely do the song justice. Imagine her scream-singing “the seven things I hate about you/you’re vain, your games, you’re insecure / you love me you like her!” It could be the song to replace ‘Misery Business’, filling that hole in fans hearts after the band decided to no longer perform the song for being anti-feminist. ‘7 Things’ blends rock with acoustic and would make for an epic finale to any Paramore concert. There would be tears, sore throats from screaming, and probably some dropped jaws if the band ever covered ‘7 Things’, but it would be amazing. – Maddie Lock
Nicki Minaj – ‘S&M’
A world where Nicki Minaj does a cover or features on ‘S&M’ by Rihanna is a world I want to live in. We have already seen a fantastic version of the song featuring Britney Spears, so this is not an ask too big. I picture Nicki’s alter ego Roman coming out during S&M and screaming “rawr rawr” throughout the track, with a hardcore breakdown with a feature from David Guetta whilst Rihanna is singing “I may be bad but I’m perfectly good at it”. Nicki’s verse will go like “I don’t need no sticks, I just need a dick, I ain’t talking no anaconda, I just want your tricks”, I’m not a rapper but you get the point it would be the coolest and most epic cover of all time and will hopefully bring back some of Nicki’s Roman Reloaded era. No matter what song Nicki is on is already a platinum record, so imagine Nicki featuring on one of the greatest tracks of all time. The performance factor would see Nicki with whips whipping the dances whilst they pretend to be horses, Rihanna is floating in the air doing acrobatics just proving she really can do anything. – Morgan McMillan
