Blog Assignment 3---Cover Songs

Hot N Cold by Katy Perry

Hot N Cold by Woe, Is Me

     The two songs I chose to compare are Hot N Cold, originally by Katy Perry, and its cover by Woe, Is Me. The first difference between these two songs is the melody. In Katy Perry's version of the song, the vocals are the melody in the first verse. In Woe, Is Me's cover of the song, there is not melody for the first 22 seconds. The sung melody of the original song is replaced with distorted, guttural screaming. During the chorus, the singer in Woe, Is Me begins to sing the same melodic vocal line in the same key signature as Katy Perry does. In Woe, Is Me's cover, the vocals are screamed again for a couple measures 43 seconds into the song before returning to the original melody of the chorus. The pattern of switching between screamed vocals with no real melody to melodic sung vocals is a transition that is made repeatedly in Woe, Is Me's cover of the song. When the singer in Woe, Is Me is singing, he sings almost the exact same melody with some slight embellishments.

     While the songs share almost the same lyrics and a similar melody, their musical qualities are very different. It is immediately apparent that Woe, Is Me's cover is much faster than Katy Perry's original version. Woe, Is Me's cover is played at a tempo of about 143 beats per minute while Katy Perry's version is only about 132 beats per minute. Also, Katy's version uses the same constant tempo throughout the entire song. The instrumentation is also very different between the two songs. In Katy Perry's version, the instrumentation is all electronic. In Woe, Is Me's cover, the band has a rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar, a drummer, a singer, a screamer, and a keyboard/synthesizer. The rhythm in Katy Perry's original is in a constant 4/4 time signature with the bass playing on beats one and three. In Woe, Is Me's cover, the rhythms of the guitars and drums are very syncopated and change almost every measure. Both songs are heterophonic. Woe, Is Me's cover is also much more intense. The instruments and vocals are loud and deep. Katy Perry's version does not have nearly as much bass as the cover. Woe, Is Me uses a much more complex timbre in their synthesized sounds than Katy Perry. Around one minute into Woe, Is Me's cover, the complex timbre of the synth can be easily identified. The timbre in Katy Perry's version is fairly simple. Both songs are organized the same way. They order of the two songs goes verse, chorus, verse, chorus, interlude/breakdown, chorus.

     I like Woe, Is Me's cover much better than Katy Perry's original. I prefer the cover because I really enjoy syncopated rhythms and screamed vocals. I also like the sung vocals in the cover more than Katy Perry's vocals. In the second verse, Katy Perry sounds the same exact way she did in the first verse. There isn't much energy in her singing and I personally find it boring. Woe, Is Me's singer does a much better job giving the song energy and embellishing the melody so the song doesn't become monotonous and overly-repetitive. I also think the way Woe, Is Me plays the song fits the lyrics better. The whole song is about someone who constantly changes their mind; when Woe, Is Me plays the song, they constantly switch between screamed vocals in minor keys and melodic sung vocals in major keys. In the music video for Hot N Cold by Katy Perry, she looks angry and she chases her fiance all over; however, when she sings the song, she sounds very calm for an enraged bride chasing a groom all across town. I think Woe, Is Me did a much better job representing the bipolar nature of the song.