Top 5 Best Covers of Lorde's 'Royals' Feat. Selena Gomez, Pentatonix, and Mayor Hawthorne [VIDEOS]
As Lorde's Royals takes the number one spot on the charts, Enstars picked the best covers -- featuring performances by Selena Gomez, Pentatonix, and Mayor Hawathorne -- of the song doing the rounds on the Internet.
1. Selena Gomez
Gomez's live rendition of Royals at the Winnipeg MTS Center is accompanied by an impressive band. The start is a bit shaky, especially when Gomez garbles a few words and misses notes in her first attempt at the pacier parts of the song. But Gomez finds her sea legs midway and sounds more confident through the second half. Also watch out for the Gomez's amusing expressions and hand gestures as she tries to work the swagger of reckless teenagers.
2. Pentatonix
Pentatonix puts one of the coolest spin on the song so far. With a beat boxer underscoring the sturdy thump of the song and a bunch of male and female vocalists harmonizing on and layering the refrain and chorus of the song. Think a Glee-styled cover, this one comes close. And the group is actually dressed like a bunch of hip royals.
3. Mayor Hawthorne
Hawthorne introduces his cover of the 16-year-old's hit by crediting the singer: "I chose this song because I think it's rare that someone so young writes a song that's so great, we're going to funk it out." This one is different from the original in more ways than one, set in a completely different mold, the track is settled in the slow-roasting fuzz of funk and jazz. Hawthorne completely switches things up, adding a whole lot of soul to the vocal delivery. The original is almost unrecognizable in parts, in a good way.
4.Mutya Keisha Siobhan
This one nails the warm timbre of choir singers with a stripped down version supported by only a guitar. This trio of female singers endow the track with rich syrupy vocals, and hit all those ambitious high notes, against the backdrop of the soft thrum of acoustic strings.
5. Cimorelli
Six talented sisters doing an acapella cover of Royals, with a whole lot of finger snapping. It doesn't get better than this!