PB1A: Cover Videos

The pop culture that influences our current generation of young adults showcases a variety of social media outlets. Such websites, some of the more popular ones being Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, encourage and glorify the putting of oneself on display for society to judge. This post will focus in on YouTube, one of the more diverse sites. Specifically I will focus on the genre of video uploads known as “Covers”. “Covers”, perhaps one of the more uncomfortable types of uploads, are recordings of regular, non-famous people performing either a simple mimic or entirely revamped version of a song originally written/performed by a professional musician.

Now to talk about what makes a cover video exactly that, a cover video. Generally the person uploading the cover song is making an attempt to improve upon the work of the original artist. There are two ways in which they tend to go about this. The first way I mentioned previously and is the type of remake performed with the same melody and tone as that of the original artist. What the person, we’ll call them the YouTuber, is trying to accomplish here is to display their own voice in comparison to the original musicians. The YouTuber wants to appeal to an audience of people who are fans of the actual music and not specifically the artist. The second type of cover video is a completely different and entirely new version of the original piece performed to a melody created by the YouTuber. These types of video’s are often hit or miss, as they appeal to the same audience as the previous kind of upload but change the music itself. Often audiences will have varying opinions about such recordings and because of many negative reactions to them, these are the less popular type of covers. Nonetheless, both kinds of covers share, for the most part, the same types of conventions. Both share a purpose, being to improve upon the work of the original artist and to at the same time promote the popularity of their own voice. Both appeal to the same audience, usually younger people and fans of the works of the original artist which the YouTuber is covering.

What truly makes the cover video unique in comparison to its sister uploads out in cyberspace is its style and tone. These rhetorical features within the genre of cover videos are usually left up to the artistic interpretation of each individual YouTuber. That being said, the most common words said preceding any upload such as this is along the lines of “I hope you like it”. To most, this tone comes across as apologetic before the viewer is ever exposed to the music itself, which seems to soften the viewer’s judgment of the Youtuber. The style however is completely objective, which is what makes comparing such videos interesting to listen to. Experiencing the different ways which a diverse group of people, such as these YouTubers, interprets the same piece of musical art is what keeps these types of videos so popular on the internet today.

 --> Attached you will find a comparison of one of my favorite cover videos to the original song. (the original is in black and white, if you can't tell.)