triple j’s Like A Version series for 2016 is already off to a great start. We entered the year with a powerful but sad tribute to the late David Bowie courtesy of Sarah Blasko, who performed a cover of Bowie’s iconic hit ‘Life On Mars’.
Boy & Bear followed this up with another tribute to a departed talent last week, turning the brooding, jazzy production of Amy Winehouse’s classic tune ‘Back to Black’ into a chugging folk rock tune that we wanted to hear again and again.
This morning, The Rubens entered the triple j studios, fresh off their Hottest 100 win, to perform their poll-topping song ‘Hoops’ and a Like A Version cover, mashing up Adele’s smash ‘Hello’ with Kendrick Lamar’s fiery and funky ‘King Kunta’.
It was certainly an ambitious task that the Menangle-bred rockers had set for themselves, but they pulled it off admirably, tackling the notes first rendered by Adele’s famously powerful pipes over the funky instrumental backing from ‘King Kunta’.
But despite the quality performance, many triple j listeners are scratching their heads, wondering why The Rubens decided to mash up the two songs in the first place and in some cases wishing it was just a straight Kendrick cover.
“I wish this had more Kendrick and less Adele,” wrote one commenter on triple j’s Facebook page. Was looking forward to a killer cover… pretty disappointed. Love the Rubens but I would have prefered more Kendrick,” wrote another.
“Awful song choice. Whatever you think about Adele (she’s not my cup of tea), she does what she does well and has a huge voice which suits her ballad style, and Hello only works because it’s simple. This was almost unlistenable,” wrote one passionate commenter.
However, one fan reckons the ‘Hoops’ hit-makers were just taking the piss: “Just took the piss out of all the butt hurt kendrick fans. And to add insult played an adele song to the riff haha. Brilliant trolling from The Rubens.”
