Why We Need Post Malone and Twenty One Pilots' Cover of "Don't Look Back in Anger"
The pop stars came together to cover Oasis's “Don't Look Back In Anger" and it surprisingly didn't suck.
Even for harsh pop culture critics, Twenty One Pilots and Post Malone are difficult to dismiss.
Their music is catchy and unique enough not to grow stale after a few listens, and they both seem like charismatic, well-intentioned boys. Still, taking on a song like “Don't Look Back In Anger" is a difficult feat. The Oasis anthem, which has plagued karaoke bars across the world (along with their other overplayed hit “Wonderwall") can easily come off as cheesy or disingenuous.
Maybe it's because the world is so awful right now, and maybe I'm just looking for anything to get my mind off of our president wanting to nuke hurricanes, but when the pop icons covered the track on the last night of UK's Leeds Festival, it was undoubtedly charming. Sure, Post Malone barely sang at all, and the whole thing was pretty much a Tyler Joseph performance, but the audience screaming out, “I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed" made this pop culture critic wanna go set some stuff on fire.
Though he doesn't sing much, Post's emphatic guitar-playing helps the song rise up from Joseph's Coldplay-esque piano playing, ultimately revving the crowd into a frenzy at the last chorus and making us wish that he'd gifted a few more of the verses with his distinctly raspy yowl. Only during that final chorus does the song rise to the heights of the original, exuding a kind of catharsis that feels something like freedom. In a world of so much bitterness, the idea that forgiveness is possible feels almost alien, but together, Post Malone and Tyler Joseph's ode to acceptance is nearly convincing.
Their brotherly hug at the end is the cherry on top of the whole thing. In conclusion, Post Malone and Tyler Joseph are totally cool, and “Don't Look Back In Anger" is still a damn good song.