Things I Find Fascinating: Amazing YouTube Cover Songs

In the digital age, it's easier than ever for unknown talent to get their work out there on video-posting sites like YouTube.com. Often, the easiest way to make yourself accessible to the public – where people will want to click on your video and watch it – is to "cover" a song previously recorded and made famous by someone else. Sometimes, a good cover song will generate millions of "hits", which can lead to the cover artist's original songs getting millions of hits, which can lead to them becoming an internet star. These days, internet (specifically YouTube) stardom can lead to mainstream success as well, including signing to major record labels – which has happened more often than you might think. Some of the artists below have already had that type of success, some are writing their own stories via the independent music scene, and some are content to make music for the masses whether they get famous or not. Regardless of their stories, here are 20 of the most amazing YouTube cover songs that I could find. Some of these versions are, in my opinion, as good as or better than the originals (most of which I am familiar with, for comparison's sake). All of them deserve to be heard and to be recognized. Enjoy!  ~  JH

NOTE: The original artist is listed in (parentheses) after the song title.



1)  Karmin Music  ~  "6 Foot 7 Foot"  (Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz)  (Note: They cleaned this one up considerably – no objectionable content)

2)  Pentatonix  ~  "We Are Young"  (fun.)

3)  Vazquez Sounds  ~  "Rolling In The Deep"  (Adele)

4)  Maddi Jane ~  "Jar Of Hearts"  (Christina Perri)

5)  Heather Rhea  ~  "Near To You"  (A Fine Frenzy)

6)  Noah ft. Christina Grimmie  ~  "Somebody That I Used To Know"  (Gotye ft. Kimbra)

7)  Megan Nicole  ~  "Live While We're Young"  (One Direction)

8)  Peter Hollens & Tyler Ward  ~  "It's Time"  (Imagine Dragons)

9)  Sam Tsui ft. Kurt Schneider  ~  "Mirrors"  (Justin Timberlake)

10)  Mike Tompkins  ~  "Firework"  (Katy Perry)  (Totally a capella = WOW!)

11)  Boyce Avenue  ~  "Ho Hey"  (The Lumineers)

12)  Alex Goot & Against The Current  ~  "Catch My Breath"  (Kelly Clarkson)

13)  Jason Chen  ~  "Grenade"  (Bruno Mars)

14)  Sophie Madeleine  ~  "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"  (Bob Dylan)

15)  Jess Moskaluke  ~  "Drops Of Jupiter"  (Train)

16)  Julia Sheer  ~  "Stay"  (Rihanna)

17)  Katy McAllister & Jeff Hendrick  ~  "Lights"  (Ellie Goulding)

18)  Helena Maria  ~  "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"  (Taylor Swift)

19)  Meghan Knight  ~  "Fallin' For You"  (Colbie Caillat)

20)  Greyson Chance  ~  "Paparazzi"  (Lady Gaga)