About Me (revised FP1)

            Hey guys! My name is Macie Biber, and here at No Cover Charge, you can expect the unexpected. This blog will host your favorite songs, being redone by your favorite artists. This isn't your typical music review blog, this is a blog revolving around the world of covers and even the comparison of them to their originals. Who sung “No Diggity” by Blackstreet the best? Did you even know that “No Diggity” was originally sung by Blackstreet, and not by Anna Kendrick of Pitch Perfect? This is the kind of stuff I'll be getting down and dirty with, exposing the world of covers one album or song at a time.

         This blog is not only looking to expose quality to comparison, but shed light on the importance of fresh takes on popular songs within a variety of genres. Acoustic and indie artists covering hip hop and underground rap; and vice versa. Some posts may even highlight multiple covers across the vast spectrum of the music world. Whether the cover was played in concert (like Miley Cyrus’s famously covered “Jolene”) or recorded professionally and posted up on Spotify, the new and possibly even improved version will be talked about, and talked about in depth.

         Now one may ask, what defines a cover? To answer generically, insert Wikipedia definition here;

“In popular music, a cover song... is a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song by someone other than the original artist or composer.”

I totally agree, but in my blog, we're going to discuss certain standards of covers. The way I see it, covering a song is playing a song with prior ownership in a new and inventive way. Same words, but different speed, rhythm, and a possible different meaning. Same lyrics, different take. However, something really special is found in a song that’s redone and made anew. A reinterpretation rather than a reproduction; that’s what I like to see in a cover and that’s the quality I'm looking for when reviewing songs for my audience.

            Some covers you may hear on this blog are literally godsend glory, and some will be straight up badly done. Nevertheless, the cover's quality of creativity will be deserving of mention. It’s not whether or not your personal taste prefers specific genres over the other, but it's if the new artist did the older piece justice. If one slaughters a classic Elton John “Rocketman”, not only is it a crime against humanity, but a sin to whatever god one believes in. You can’t just take beautiful works of art and mold them into something completely shameful without being called out. On the flip side, you can’t just take a new spin on Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and have it work magically paired with an acoustic guitar without recognition for the reimagined art you’ve created. It's all about how the music makes you feel, how the music makes your heart sing along and your body shake.

          One may ask why I have the right to discriminate between good or bad covers, and that's justifiable. I’ve been playing violin since the 6^th grade, and basically all I play is music that somebody else wrote. Reimagined or not, the sheet music wasn’t mine. Everywhere from Chopin to The Beatles was touched, but I didn't write a single note of it. I didn’t make the music my own; I just copied exactly what those famous composers created with a different artistic medium. This background is what got me interested in the idea that I never really made anything my own, and what it takes to make something new and interesting. It's hard and creatively concentrated, which is why I repeat, covers on this blog will have a certain quality about them that is recognizable.

             I'll be straight up; I don't know what you're going to hear. Covers are found anywhere and everywhere; and similarly the original genre itself constantly be changing and different. That’s the beauty in covers, the wildly entertaining spectrum of music does not define or constrain them. The mixing and matching is beautiful and imaginative, whilst doing something not so imaginative at all. The process is fascinating to me; I hope that my passion shows and that you become fascinated with my viewpoint too.

            To recap, WELCOME! Please take your time and enjoy my endless spiels on the magic world of covers. You should expect an eclectic sense of musicality and never expect to be bored. You should expect nothing less than a reimagined rather than reproduced piece of work. That’s what I think defines a well done cover deserving recognition, and that’s what No Cover Charge is all about. I’d like to end this first post with an encompassing quote by Kanye West:

"Creative output, you know, is just pain. I'm going to be cliche for a minute and say that great art comes from pain."