In the past week, two of my favourite female popstars have recorded cover versions of the very same song, Use Somebody by Kings of Leon. Unfortunately, despite my love for both Pixie Lott and Natasha Khan, I still don’t like the song very much. I think the Kings of Leon will be one band whose popularity I’ll never understand, but they’re far from the first to get that reaction from me. Anyway, here are Pixie and Natasha’s respective versions. Let me know in the comments which you think is best!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipbWrEqmp10&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f]
Personally I think Pixie brings a little more poptasticness to proceedings, which actually makes sense because while I love Bat For Lashes as a magical and special artsy pop package, Pixie is a blank slate kind of pop star whose vocal talents and endearing persona can be matched easily with any great song. This may not be a great song, but her pop flexibility means she can still add a little sparkle to it.
I really liked Pixie’s version. I listened to Bat for Lashes’ version earlier and it just did nothing for me.
In spite of all my pop tendencies I’ve really gotten into KOL’s album. I can’t even explain it.
I like Bat’s version just that little bit more, but they’re both fairly good. And, as a passing fan of KOL, I actually think “Use Somebody” is their weakest song to date. Very, very poor effort.