I always say the best sign of a good song is that it translates well to other mediums. A radio hit can use all the autotune and layered riffs in the world, but if someone was strumming it on an acoustic guitar or humming it on a street-corner, would it still be compelling?
To me that’s the difference between good pop music and disposable songs, as I alluded to in my recent Gaga post. Gaga tunes sound great from a hard rock band or on an acoustic piano. You could make an 8-bit video game version and they’d still be indelible. By contrast, with most newer Britney tunes you have to do some heavy lifting to make them work.
Most of Sara Bareilles’ repertoire passes the translation test. Certainly “Love Song” does, with it’s staff-spanning melodic leaps, but perhaps not as well as the hyper-pop single “King of Anything.” I was hooked on within twenty seconds of bro playing the video for me last fall.
My #MusicMonday today is “King of Anything,” but not by Bareilles – the version I’m crushing on is by YouTube phenom Sam Tsui, with an assist from Kurt Schneider
Sam Tsui isn’t a new phenomenon, and neither is his cover. Tsui, from just outside Philly(!), is one of the biggest stars of YouTube. He has an unbelievably golden counter-tenor to rival Glee’s Chris Colfer, and he’s been all over the web and on television – even on Oprah! Meanwhile, this video is nearly a year old, and has five million views.
I’ve seen it dozens of times already, but I keep coming back to it for a few reasons. [Read more…] about #MusicMonday: “King of Anything” – @SamuelTsui