Rolling in the Re-Makes

In today’s digital music landscape, what’s a good bellwether for the real cultural resonance of song?

I’d suggest that, as we can see now with Adele, the metric of the moment is the number of remixes and remakes a song sparks.

“Rolling in the Deep” is, in itself a good song.  Maybe a great song (maybe).  But the number of headline-worthy acts that have been inspired (or encouraged) to reinterpret the song is striking.  And, as is the case with many markers of popularity, these homages don’t just serve to identify this song as hot; they in turn serve to further the song’s popularity.  In this music landscape fueled by what’s hot this very moment, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd of constantly new takes on a hit.

Here are three of the better ones.  The first, a soulful a capella take from John Legend.

Rolling In The Deep, John Legend

To take this meta for a moment, here is someone by the name of Copycat who is re-mixing the John Legend re-make of the Adele hit.  Phew.  I think this version sort of sucks, but it sure does make the point doesn’t it?

Rolling in the Deep (A Copycat Remix)

The third, a bit more obscure, is an intriguingly atmospheric take from Mike Posner.

Rolling In The Deep (Adele Cover), Mike Posner