There’s truly only one thing better than the Eurovision songs themselves, and that’s when Eurovision singers cover other Eurovision songs. It’s like double the Eurovision, which is ultimately all our dreams coming true. Over the years, there have been some good and some questionable Eurovision covers by Eurovision stars and amateurs alike, however today we’re whittling down the list to present our top 5 Eurovision songs covered by Eurovision stars.
5. Litesound – A Million Voices
The Litesound boys from the Belarussian entry back in 2012 teamed up with Alex Kolchin to cover A Million Voices, which you’ll remember was Russia’s entry in 2015. The song was originally performed by Polina Gagarina, and has now had a rock transformation. What the song has now gained in masculinity, it has lost in clear English enunciation. Nevertheless, Litesound and Alex offer us a cover we couldn’t help but feature in our top 5, and we’re especially loving the guitar solos! We can’t confidently say that this was a better rendition than Polina’s original, however it is arguably better than the strange rock/disco/pop mix that Litesound had back in 2012 with their song We Are The Heroes.
4. Hanna Pakarinen – J’aime la Vie
You might remember Hanna Pakarinen, who represented Finland back in 2007 on home soil. Her performance was the rock entry, Leave Me Alone, a very rock oriented song. This cover couldn’t be further from that dark, moody performance back in 2007. Hanna turns on the jazzy charm while performing the Belgian winner from back in 1986, J’aime La Vie. Hanna’s rendition is more laid back, and less high pitched (to be fair, Sandra Kim, the original performer of this winning song was still a child when she won…) and would easily fit into a sophisticated jazz lounge. Within the same show that this was performed in, Hanna also does a cover of Fångad av en stormvind which again was a bit more relaxed than the original performance. We’re loving this softer side of Hanna!
3. Aram Mp3 – Only Teardrops
Aram Mp3, the comedian cross singer from Armenia took the pleasure in performing a cover of Emmelie de Forest’s winning entry from 2013, Only Teardrops. The cover opens with Aram Mp3 performing an enchanting first verse, and then turns a bit disco in the chorus. His vocals are spot on, almost suspiciously good (they were certainly not as good back in 2014, where he sang his own entry Not Alone – we’ll call it Eurovision nerves). Overall, we think this is a really good cover, if not slightly better than the original. The addition of traditional instruments is a welcome addition, and Aram Mp3’s interesting tone of voice offers a pleasurable listen.
2. Boaz – Sha’ar Libech
We’re definitely not shy about confessing our eternal love for Boaz, and this is yet another time where he just blows our mind. The 2008 Israeli participant covered a fellow 2008 contestant, Olta Boka, who was representing Albania with the song Zemrën e Lamë Peng. The song was transformed into Sha’ar Libech, a total Hebrew recreation and we are so grateful for Boaz for creating such a musical masterpiece (although not all the credit can go to him, since it wasn’t him who actually wrote the song! Thanks Albania!). The song is beautiful, much like every song graced with the presence of Boaz, and for us here at Eurovision Union, we can confidently confirm that this is better than the original version – go on, tell me I’m wrong!
1. Amir – Golden Boy
The French representative from 2016 has done various covers, some of which included the Spanish entry also from 2016, called Say Yay as well as Måns Zelmerlow’s winning song, Heroes from 2015. Out of the covers Amir has done, this is very easily our favourite. Amir very confidently performs Nadav Guedj’s Golden Boy at the London preview party, and boy did he get the party started! Amir’s energetic side comes out, but it would be hard not to let loose on such a party track. He is helped by the audience, who are singing collectively alongside Amir. We really love Amir. We really love Golden Boy. We really love Amir singing a cover of Golden Boy. Enough Said.
What’s a Eurovision Union Top 5 without a sneaky honourable mention, and today our honourable mention goes out to a ‘nearly’ Eurovision star – that is, Linus Svenning, who has participated in Melodifestivalen in previous years. Linus does some killer covers, but we’re especially loving his cover of fellow ‘nearly’ Eurovision star Oscar Zia’s Melodifestivalen song, Human from the 2016 edition of the popular Swedish national selection. The deep, hypnotic voice wins us over every time; keep doing what you’re doing Linus, because we love it.
And that’s it! That wraps up our top 5 Eurovision covers by Eurovision stars (plus of course, an honourable mention!) Make sure you let us know your favourite Eurovision covers down below in the comments, or through our social media (Facebook, Twitter)