Tame Impala have given quite a few remote performances throughout the pandemic, mostly performing originals from their divisive 2020 album The Slow Rush (not everyone liked it as much as me) but sometimes slipping in a cover like “Jealous Guy” for John Lennon’s 80th birthday. In a new Annie Mac Session for BBC Radio 1, they’ve added another cover to the pile.

This time their choice of material is not an obvious Kevin Parker inspiration like John Lennon. In its synth-pop trio incarnation, the group has taken on “Say It Right,” a #1 smash from Nelly Furtado’s 2006 blockbuster Loose. Tame Impala have transformed Timbaland’s booming production into something icy and removed, but song’s dark emotional center remains. I didn’t know I needed to hear Parker’s laserbeam voice singing “Oh, you don’t mean nothing at all to me” today, but it turns out I did. Would’ve loved to have asked Parker about this one in our We’ve Got A File On You interview.

Hear the “Say It Right” cover below, along with Tame Impala’s performance of “Is It True” from the same session.

Can’t wait to find out what rating “Say It Right” gets in The Number Ones!