Music Lists

Harry Styles' 8 Best Covers

The former One Direction member is the musical chameleon we don't deserve.

Harry Styles - Juice (Lizzo cover) in the Live Lounge

With his two solo albums, Harry Styles has proven that he was always One Direction's strongest link.

The boy band's final performance in 2015 opened the doors for Styles to come into his own. Turns out, his solo artistic persona is pretty chameleonic. He channels classic rock as easily as he does pop and R&B. He can deliver soaring ballads with the same energy he devotes to high-energy barnburners. All of this is to say: Styles is a singular talent with a versatile voice and an undeniable charisma that multiplies his appeal.

Though his original work is typically great, Styles has also performed numerous impressive renditions of other artists' hits. From '70s folk to modern hits, we've rounded up the ex-1D member's best covers.

Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”

Joni Mitchell's biggest hit got another breath of life when it was covered by Counting Crows in 2002. Though the band gave the environmentally-conscious tune a more adult alternative spin, Styles takes it back to its singer-songwriter origins with a fully acoustic setup. The harmony during the chorus adds a special touch.

MUSIC

Supa Bwe, Chance the Rapper and Kanye’s New Song “Rememory” Might be a Tribute to Toni Morrison

The term "rememory" was actually coined by Morrison in her 1988 novel Beloved.

Photo by Nate Isaac on Unsplash

Supa Bwe and Chance the Rapper's new track, "Rememory (Just Say Thank You)" has arrived just in time for summer.

Infused with Chance's characteristically infectious joy, it layers repetitive lyrics over a chilled-out beat in a buoyant tribute to nostalgia and good times.

"Rememory" is one of the tracks on Supa Bwe's Just Say Thank You EP, released today on EMPIRE. The two artists have worked together before—Chance added his voice to Supa's "Fool It With Freestyle" in 2016, and Supa Bwe appeared on Chance's "Wala Cam" last year.

According to its press release, "Rememory" was produced by members of Chance's backing band, and it was arranged by Kanye West himself. Back in 2018, Chance said he and Kanye were working on a full-length album together, and the project was even discussed in Chance's feature on Life of Pablo's "Ultralight Beam." Still, as of now, there's no evidence that Chance's upcoming release—dropping this July—is a Yeezy collaboration.

Ultralight Beamwww.youtube.com

The two hip hop titans did come together to create this song, though, a promising sign for anyone still holding out hope for a long-form collab. "Rememory" is classic Chance, enhanced by Kanye's talent for crafting euphoric anthems.

It's also not the first song Chance has released called "Rememory." In 2016, his band Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment released a track with the same name. That one is significantly darker, telling the story of a man whose wife took her kids away in a car, leaving him alone with his sins and a court date.

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Rememory (Lyrics) (High Quality)www.youtube.com

The phrase "rememory" itself comes from an even deeper place—it was actually coined by none other than Toni Morrison, in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved. In that book, the term describes a process of re-constructing the past in order to live with the ghosts of old traumas. Morrison's work has been incorporated by other rappers before; she's even been cited as a major inspiration by frequent Chance collaborator Noname, suggesting a possible connection.

Regardless of its origins, 2019's "Rememory" seems poised to become the song of the summer, designed for anyone who's looking to move forward into the future without forgetting the past.


Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York. Follow her on Twitter @edenarielmusic.


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