The UK indie-pop star Beabadoobee loves covering other people's songs. Just in the past year, she's taken on tracks from Ella Fitzgerald, the La's, Sabrina Carpenter, and the Corrs. Now, she's taken part in Like A Version, the covers series from the Australian radio network Triple J. In a salute to her host region, Beabadoobee took on "Sway," the 1997 hit from the New Zealand singer-songwriter Big Runga.
Beabadoobee was recently in Australia. Along with Charli XCX and Clairo, Beabadoobee was one of the headliners of the touring Laneway Festival, and all three of them shared stages with one another. While she was over there, she sang a nicely fuzzy version of "Sway," the Bic Runga song that was a big hit in Australia and New Zealand in 1997.
In an accompanying video, Beabadoobee says that her mother used to play Bic Runga around the house, and she did it as a surprise for her mom. Beabadoobee also had nice things to say about Runga: "She's badass, and it was just really nice seeing an Asian woman playing indie music like that... I just knew I wanted the drums to sound like American Football. I wanted it to be a Midwest emo version of 'Sway.'"
Below, watch Beabadoobee's "Sway" cover and her interview, as well as Bic Runga's original "Sway" video.
