LISTEN: FIDLAR Covers Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy”

In 1996, Sheryl Crow evidently considered herself an endangered species. FIDLAR, apparently, wants to make it known that the exact opposite is true, nearly twenty years after the fact.

With a second LP tentatively “in the works,” LA punk outfit FIDLAR has unleashed an abrasive new take on Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy.” If Crow’s version was a sly, subtle bird-flipping to the person she’s addressing in the song, FIDLAR’s cover strips the song of any subtlety and blows the speakers in any home theater system into oblivion. The cover is almost an exact tonal replica of the original 1996 track: it has a slow, surprisingly melodic and mellow feeling in the verses, and then the chorus explodes with rage and fury. Unlike Crow’s original version, however, FIDLAR pushes the chorus into another vocal atmosphere that Crow probably couldn’t quite reach. With FIDLAR getting a hold of the track, it turns the song up to eleven and beyond, taking what Crow offered up in 1996 and stuffing it with musical C4. With a video that features roughly all of the original music video from Sheryl Crow, the FIDLAR vocals pair nicely with Crow’s, making it seem as if Crow herself were singing the new punk version of the song.

FIDLAR have been hard at work on their upcoming record. They have recently been confirmed for the Shaky Knees 2015 Festival and have also had cover of their song “Cocaine” performed by the Girl Gang.