Doja Cat Covers Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” For Taco Bell Super Bowl Commercial
When Hole released their 1998 single “Celebrity Skin,” the lead single from the album of the same name, the satire was pretty obvious. With the long-awaited follow-up to the classic Live Through This, Courtney Love was taking on the hyperreal tabloid world where she’d taken up residence and the ravenous attention economy that feasted on everything that she did. But “Celebrity Skin” also sounded brighter and poppier than anything that Hole had ever done — a big, clean rocker with a central guitar riff written by Love’s friend Billy Corgan. As catchy as “Celebrity Skin” might’ve been, though, it did not sound like a Taco Bell jingle, which is what the song has now become.
Some Don Draper came up with the brilliant idea that pop-rap superstar Doja Cat should cover “Celebrity Skin” and that Doja’s version should soundtrack a Taco Bell ad that’ll air during the Super Bowl. The ad itself isn’t out in the world yet. According to a press release, this commercial “serves as an epic story of liberation from conformity and shows Doja Cat alongside others who escape from a clown college in pursuit of discovering Live Más for themselves.” Sounds great. But thanks to a behind-the-scenes video, we now get to hear Doja Cat’s version of “Celebrity Skin.”
As it turns out, Doja’s “Celebrity Skin” cover sounds exactly like the original, if the original had been sung by someone with a less interesting voice who didn’t care that much about what she was singing. The new version also has updated lyrics that Doja reworked with Love. That cover will come out as a single tonight. Below, you can observe that behind-the-scenes video and watch the original Hole video.
Remember when Hole covered Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” on the soundtrack of The Crow: City Of Angels? That wasn’t necessarily any less of a marketing stunt than this, but it was a whole lot cooler. Nothing is cool anymore.
UPDATE: Here’s the full song.