So what’s the deal with all these bands getting bashed on for covering songs that are in the pop genre?

Fearless Records released their 6th volume of Punk Goes Pop where punk bands will make covers of original musical played on the radio. But with their 6th album there has been talk about each band not living up to their full potential.

Comments such as “It’s not as heavy”, “This isn’t the same”, “They could’ve done better” fill the YouTube videos.

A cover is meant for other artists to get the chance to broaden their musical experience by stepping out to get to know a different genre.

It’s pop songs that are being covered. Shouldn’t the expectation be meant to have similarities while also adding a bit of their own taste? Maybe not fully, but at least partially. That’s what makes a cover.

With listening to all 13 tracks off the album, “Punk Goes Pop 6” was a success.

Metal band Upon a Burning Body teamed up with rapper Ice-T to produce a cover of “Turn Down For What”, originally produced by Dj. Snake and Lil’ Jon. The original version was upbeat with an EDM sound, but the cover took on the more heavier side, all while still incorporating a rap sound. The song continued to have a lot of energy that gets the listener pumped.

American melodic metalcore band We Came as Romans had released their version of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” prior to the release of the full album. The band as a whole gives the song a new punk sound opposed to the original softness. Clean vocalist Kyle Pavon and screamer Dave Stephens both compliment each other’s voices with their different singing styles and alternating verses. They’re voices produces an emotion of demand and control, which is what the song stands for.

A post-hardore band that I was never familiar with, Palisades, covered Pharrell William’s “Happy” and it is one of the best off the albums. It’s a mixture of a rock tempo along with EDM style, which gives off the same “happy” mood as Pharrell does in his original.  The band provided  instrumentals that makes their sound evident to the listener’s that they’re adding their own style.

From listening to a specific band constantly over time, one can become accustomed to their definite sound. This wasn’t the case for metalcore band Crown the Empire. With songs they produced themselves they usually take on the heavier side of rock. Covering Ellie Goulding’s “Burn”, they took on a softer side, which is even the complete opposite of the original. The tempo was slowed down so one can recognize the time put into producing the music. Both vocalists, Andrew Velasquez and David Escamilla, also had a softer tone when it came to the lyrics. Overall, the song was one that stood out more compared to the rest. It took on an entirely fresh outlook on the genre.

Each band off the album produces their own uniqueness into each song that is covered. The sounds are similar to the originals, but not necessarily alike. Some bands even take this as a chance to try something completely new. There is definitely a distinction between the genres, which makes the album what it is. Punk Goes Pop — incorporating a new genre into what’s well known.