[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTAK7NO5hV0]
The above is a clip of a relatively recent song courtesy of Australian pop singer Che’Nelle? Listen to the whole thing here. Notice anything strange about it? Well, give it a second and if it still doesn’t click…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XfCBE365U0″]
Yep, Che’Nelle actually recorded a sunshine-jacked cover of Moumoon’s creepy 2010 single “Sunshine Girl.” I initially heard the Che’Nelle version while sitting in Osaka’s new Burger King, and when I focused on those lyrics something in my head said “uhhhhh, dude, put the chicken sandwich down, this sounds familiar.” And then that chorus…except in the hands of Che’Nelle (real name Cheryline Lim) all the bizarreness of Moumoon’s original gets whited out in favor of typical summer bubblegum. Not to say it’s devoid of charm…instead of awkward Lynchian English, Che’Nelle gives us the unintentional gutbuster “9 to the eight/I feel so great/7 to the 6/need my hair fixed/5 to the 4 whatcha waitin’ for/3 to the 2 to the 1/let’s go have fun!”
Switching gears a bit…how often do Western artists cover Japanese pop songs? And I don’t mean in a vaguely ironic Andrew W.K./Marty Friedman way…I mean straight-up seriously like what Che’Nelle does here. Plenty of J-Pop stars cover American tunes, but the other way around? Any examples? A Google search of “Western artists covering j-pop songs” just gives me Wiki pages about J-Pop and something ominously titled “K-Pop>J-Pop.”
Oh and Moumoon’s version really does kick the crap out Che’Nelle’s tarted-up take. The way she says “holiday” gets me everyday…and it sounds cool!