As singers we start off learning how to sing a song, phrasing, dynamics, and melodic arrangement through imitating someone’s version of their original song or imitating our favorite singer’s version of a song. When we start we are learning how to use our voice, vocal control, delivery, timing, pitch, among many other things.
When we are asked to perform a cover how do we make it our own? How do you as an artist change and mold the song to you and your style and personality? This is something every artist at every level must think about. To some it’s an easier task than to others, but it is still a task that we can all work on to be better and stronger at.
There are many things that a singer can do to change the feel of a song and make it original; it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish with the song. Do you want the audience to connect to the song emotionally? Are the lyrics really strong and do you want to highlight them? If this is how you feel, how can you build the melody or mold it so it builds anticipation or emotion? Where can it change to create the emotion you want to convey to your audience? An excellent example of a pop song that was completely changed, yet the melody was very close to the original was Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You.” Dolly Parton wrote the song and her version is very different. Whitney Houston changed the dynamics, phrasing, the emphasis on what words she felt were important and made the song into an amazing ballad and vocal performance. Dolly kept it simple and had a singer songwriter feel to her song. Go back and study these two versions and see why Whitney Houston made her choices when she decided to cover it. Find what choices made it strong, and how she made the song connect to such a large audience. By studying different versions of pop, jazz, rock, country, or even musical theater songs, you can start to understand how you can play with a song and learn to make them yours.
You can make other choices as well. There are countless choices. You can speed up the rhythm or change it in a song. Someone who was very successful in changing the feel of a song this way was Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. His version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow is played in countless weddings and people love how he made it his own by playing with the rhythm. If you want to hear three very different versions of this song that were successful go listen to Judy Garland’s version, which is the classic version, then go listen to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, and then go to Eva Cassidy’s version. Each one is very different. Listen to what each artist chose to do and why. What did each person accomplish? How did they make the song connect to their audience? In the end, you must know why you are making changes or keeping it the same when you are changing a song and making it yours. You must understand what each moment is accomplishing in the song and your delivery of it. The choice can’t come out of the blue because it will feel out of place, it must add to the song and how it’s connecting to your audience.
When I started out I was horrified of changing a song. I never knew if my choices were way off. And most of the time they were off. But I learned from my mistakes and started to give my-self room to play and see what choices could work. When I was starting out, I also didn’t understand that when I changed a song it had to make sense to the audience. If you are going to make something change out the blue it has to make musical sense and emotional sense if you want to keep your audience with you. Always keep them in mind, and understand what you are accomplishing when you change the song and make it yours.
My advice would be to look up different versions of songs, listen to them, study them, learn the versions. Jazz standards are always a great way to start because many of the songs have been covered countless times and you can listen and learn different versions and play with making them yours. Go learn five different versions of All of Me and then make your own version and see how it goes. Try it out in front of an audience! If you aren’t a Jazz lover, the Beatles have been covered countless times. Go pick one of their songs and learn the different versions and create your own.
Remember that we must fail over and over before we are proficient at something. Let yourself fail and you will learn from your mistakes. Give yourself the chance to play with the music so you can learn what you can do to make a song yours.
Good luck! Let me know if you have tried something that has worked for you!