A New Type of Cover?

Almost a year ago, a student of mine asked if I had heard David Guetta and Bebe Rexha's new remix of a '90s song. Well, I didn't know who those people were, so the answer was no. But a '90s song? Color me intrigued. And color me BLUE, because the remix is a new (about a year old now) version of the classic Eiffel 65 hit that no one could get out of their heads in 1999, "Blue (Da Ba Dee)".

I remember this song as being both sort of funny and fairly annoying, and I couldn't imagine it resurfacing more than twenty years later, but here we are. As it turns out, Bebe Rexha is a singer/songwriter, and David Guetta is a DJ and producer. Both of their Wikipedia bios show an intense proclivity for collaboration, and I definitely should have known who they were before I heard this track! Their remix is called "I'm Good (Blue)".

...and I actually think it lies sort of halfway between a remix and a cover song. In my mixing/mashing typology article, I define a remix as "a new version of an already recorded song. A remix only involves one previously existing song, and it must retain enough of the original song that it can still be identified as 'the same song.'" "I'm Good (Blue)" definitely fits within that definition - it's a version of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)," it doesn't include elements from any other previously existing songs, and the source song is clearly recognizable. However, a key difference between this song and a typical remix is that the lead vocal is completely newly recorded. The distinctive arpeggiated synth line and other elements are lifted from the Eiffel 65 track, but Bebe Rexha's lead vocal is new and includes all new lyrics.

Eiffel 65's "Blue" is a strange story about a "little guy" who lives in a blue house, drives a blue car, sees blue trees, and has a blue girlfriend. Blue is, of course, used to describe the little guy's state of mind as well as his literal hue. The music video features cartoon blue aliens in a spaceship, as well as members of the band performing and fighting the blue aliens. Rexha's new vocals transform it into a party anthem: she sings about having a great time, throwing your hands up, and letting go. The music video features Rexha, Guetta, and others partying in Ibiza.

I argue that the new lead vocal makes the song "feel" more like a cover than a remix, despite the heavy samples from the original track. (A teenager that I just spoke to, in fact, just called it a cover.) The way that we categorize things often comes down to feeling and instinct, rather than a series of inflexible rules.

This animal is small, has four legs, silky fur, pointy ears, and a long tail. But we would never categorize it as a cat. In fact, we can call it a dog much more quickly than we can think of the reasons why it isn't a cat. Because of this, I think that "I'm Good (Blue)" is an example of a cover/remix -- I'm using the slash here to convey that it is both, rather than a cover of a remix, which would be different.

I'm not sure precisely which elements are retained from Eiffel 65's track. Vocals aside, it's not clear if some other musical elements (drum machine, bass) are altered samples, or entirely new creations. When I wrote the typology article linked above, I wasn't aware of anything like this existing, but perhaps the cover/remix is on its way to being an entirely new genre. Elton John and Britney Spears released a collaborative track last year called "Hold Me Closer."

It has a very similar vibe to "Blue," but I would call "Hold Me Closer" a cover/mashup (as opposed to a cover mashup, which is described starting in section 5.1 of my article), rather than a cover/remix. This track features samples from John's hits "Tiny Dancer," "The One," and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," along with new vocals from Britney Spears.

In my opinion, this type of track seems to be a new way of expressing nostalgia for an earlier time. Rather than Lauryn Hill covering Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" or Smash Mouth's version of "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, these artists are doing digital collaborations as a part of their cover songs, and actually incorporating parts of the original recordings. It remains to be seen whether this is a micro-trend or something more long-lasting, but either way, it seems to be having a moment, and I'm on board!