Whatever the cynics say about X Factor, you can’t deny that often it does a good job of reviving interest in songs that otherwise might not have received the attention they deserve.
The most recent example of this is the single released by X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, a cover of Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah (covering Leonard Cohen). The interest in the song has boosted Buckley’s own version to number 10 in the Irish charts on iTunes and number 4 in the British charts and of course Burke’s version went straight to number 1 in both countries. So to be fair I’ll post both:
And Ms Burke’s cover:
Buckley’s version has been used on nearly every TV show at this stage. It’s been played to death! But since I don’t watch TV it doesn’t really bother me 🙂
My first thought on seeing this (apart from ‘we have a lot to hold Leonard Cohen’s old accountant, well, accountable for’) was, it’s nowhere near as disastrous as it could have been. She has a great voice and, in the context of turning it into a pop song, does a very decent job.
The risk was that this would be along the lines of Boyzone’s Father and Son cover, which was much worse than Hitler or one of those mad fellas.
Ciaran, thanks for mentioning Mr. Cohen… I thought he was going to get entirely forgotten in all this talk of covers and originals!
Hey what about poor ole Shrek? He did a good job of reviving it pretty recently and tbh he’s alot less ugly than the Xfactor concept 🙂