A lot of light has been shed on the recently brash, cocky attitude of today’s media towards the creation of new material. An alarming number of movies and TV shows are playing off the previous success of original material created decades ago, such as many successful movies assumingly needing a second, third, and sometimes fourth sequel when in fact the unnecessary recurrence numbs the audience to the importance and significance of the original. Simply put, too much of today’s content is rehashed.

With movies and TV shows as the presuming sources of these recycled substances, many people forget that this concept has existed within the music industry for decades, even centuries. That’s right friends, I’m of course talking about the not-so-elusive “cover song”. Stubborn die-hards like myself will instinctively defend our musical passion, but is it really any different than the aforementioned frustratingly reused content? The conditional “it depends” answer may be annoying, but it really does hinge on the artist’s interpretation. For example, if a current artist is playing the same song in the same exact fashion as the original proprietor and is simply trying to sing it BETTER than them, that’s just plain uncreative. If the current artist reinterprets the song to include differing instruments with extra vocal and instrumental twists and turns, then one may argue that the new version is a fresh and acceptable take on the matter (as long as they gave credit to the original owner, that is).

“But why now, FeenyFresh? What makes all this topical?” Well friends, the inspiration for this playlist was drawn from the fact that I’ve come across at least a dozen albums this year where I have a knee-jerk reaction to a B-side, thinking “Hold up, I’ve heard this before”. From Civil Twilight to Darlingside to Her, 2016 has had no shortage of refined accounts of recognizable classics. They may be piggybacking on someone else’s success, but they’re doing so tastefully, ironic as that may be. Oh, and if you’re thinking to yourself “I actually don’t think I know what song this is covering”, now’s the time to research and educate yourself on some timeless songs!