Tame Impala have heard Rihanna‘s cover of their track New Person, Same Old Mistakes and given it their tick of approval.
The Perth psych rockers have bestowed their blessing upon Ri-Ri’s rendish of the Currents B-side, which is featured on her new album ANTi.
Speaking on behalf of the band, Tame Impala’s management company, Spinning Top, have issued a statement about how the cover came about, and their thoughts on the final product:
“The Roc Nation [Rihanna’s management] team got in touch with us here at Spinning Top letting us know that Rihanna loved the Tame Impala track New Person, Same Old Mistakes. They asked if she could cover the song for her new record,” They explained (via NME).
“Kevin [Parker] was more than happy to send it her way. We’re all really happy with how the song turned out, love it!”
Rihanna’s 13-track album ANTi was released online for free via streaming service Tidal on Thursday (January 28th).
But it seems not everyone is as rapt on her version of New Person, Same Old Mistakes as Tame Impala, with many commentators on social media slagging it for being basically a carbon copy of the original.
“And this here is the problem with pop music, they take what’s handed to them and just churn it out….it’s almost robotic in the way they handle things,” said one punter on the Music Feeds Facebook page. “Whatever happened to interpreting a song? Making it your own? For fucks sake just try and feel something…..this isn’t flattering for Tame Impala, it’s just a bad karaoke version of their hard work.”
“Well,As they say ‘Imitation is the highest form of Flattery’. I just [heart] Tame Impala. She’s okay,but just sounds like original!!” said another.
Check out the cover, plus Rihanna’s full album track listing, below.
Listen: Tame Impala – New Person, Same Old Mistakes
https://youtu.be/qjWs-lVa8Oc
ANTI Tracklist
01 Consideration [ft. SZA]
02 James Joint
03 Kiss it Better
04 Work
05 Desperado
06 Woo
07 Needed Me
08 Yeah, I Said It
09 Same Ol’ Mistakes
10 Never Ending
11 Love On the Brain
12 Higher
13 Close to You
