Is This The Most Punk Rock Cover Of Taylor Swift Ever?
3 June 2015, 15:09 | Updated: 8 May 2017, 17:09
Watch Screaming Females' electrifying cover of "Shake It Off" and feel 100% more punk.
It's been a surprisingly good week for some of our favourite female-fronted bands; not only have we got new music from Metric today, but Screaming Females has launched into viral success after their appearance on the AV Club this week.
The New Jersey trio swung by AV's offices to take part in their "Undercover" series, where acts cover a song from a pre-selected list. And of all the songs they could have picked, they went with the one that frontwoman Marissa Paternoster deemed "not the worst thing in the world": None other than Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off". And it's AWESOME.
Marissa's deeper, vibrato-heavy vocals combined with the band's pounding indie-punk sound puts an amazing new spin on the massive 1989 single. Also, replacing the admittedly naff "My ex-man" half-rap bit with a sick guitar solo is an excellent touch.
The energy of this version couldn't be much further from the prep of Tay's original release if they tried, and that's probably what makes Screaming Females' cover amazing. Also the fact that in their follow-up interview, they probably couldn't be more apathetic about the original single if they tried.
"I'm okay with it," admits Marissa. "[the rap] is the only part I really dislike, but the rest of it's, like, not the worst thing in the world. But I don't listen to it on purpose."
Check out the hilariously half-asleep interview below.
