Tom: Oh no. No, no, no. That’ll be pretty much the instinctive reaction from most people here. Who covers something like Seven Nation Army? It… it just is. You can’t cover something that iconic. Can you?
Tim: No. I’ve heard this, and no.
Tom: Really? Because I reckon this is good. Apparently it can be done.
Tim: You really can’t. Or at least, Marcus Collins can’t.
Tom: You really think so? I mean, you’re going to have to work hard to convince me there isn’t some rather strict autotuning on some of it (the end of that first line sounds a bit Cher-like to me), but stylistically I think I actually like it.
Tim: No, you don’t. You think, ‘Ooh, this is interesting. Hmm, yeah, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be, and it’s completely different, so that makes it good.’ But it doesn’t.
Tom: Ooh. Maybe you’re right, there. I still don’t think it’s actively bad, though.
Tim: The problem with this is that it was rushed out – it is by a long way the fastest a non-X Factor winner has a made a single (it was on the radio back in January) – and they thought ‘Hey, Rock Week was one of Marcus’s best results, so let’s get him to cover a rock song.’
Tom: Would I prefer him taking on a different song? Sure. Does that harpsichord-like synth in the background remind me of Disney’s Grim Grinning Ghosts and a hundred other Hallowe’en-type tracks? Yep. Does covering this song in this style make no sense at all? Absolutely.
Tim: No, it makes perfect sense – relative to the others, Rock Week was Marcus’s second best week on X Factor, so this was always going to sell well. It was just a question of choosing the right rock song, and this is well-known, popular and fairly recent, so it’s perfect.
Tom: It’s still a decent cover of an exceptionally good song, though.
Tim: Nope.
Tom: Wait a minute, Tim! I’ve just found this – a cover of Seven Nation Army by a French artist called “Ben, l’oncle Soul”. Does it seem… familiar?
Tim: Bloody hell – that’s…that’s practically identical. Just…wow. Surely someone should be kicking up a fuss somewhere, no?
Tom: They are. Mainly on YouTube. I assume that, behind the scenes, the correct payments have been made – they’re just keeping the original as quiet as they can. Anyway, I stand by my original assertion that this is a brilliant cover. It is. It’s just not Marcus Collins’ cover.