CHVRCHES cover Justin Bieber, make our whole week

Best news: CHVRCHES have covered Justin Bieber’s emotional, great new track, “What Do You Mean?” for BBC Radio 1. And it’s amazing, of course.

The single, which was Bieber’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song (by way of saying it’s so good that pretty much everyone likes it) stays in the same electronic lane that Diplo and Skrillex conceived it in. But the CHVRCHES version sounds more arctic than summertime —and it literally gives us chills. CHVRCHES lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry adds her particular trill to the vocals, singing abruptly on words Bieber holds long and turning the vibe of it into something much more aggressive, even accusatory.

“We just want to have a bit of fun with it,” the band’s Martin Doherty said. “I’m a huge fan of that tune, and [Bieber’s] recent output with Jack U as well. It’s really, really good.”

It’s a pretty great reinterpretation. Give it a listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_e-wnWUVM4

CHVRCHES will release their sophomore album Every Open Eye this Friday, September 25. Despite this foray into Top 100 territory, Mayberry insists they’re not really that kind of band to NME, saying, “Somebody said to me once that Chvrches was an emo band in disguise, but nobody had figured it out yet, and I thought: you’re not wrong! I would rather write something that’s authentic to me than something that’ll be likely to get played on the radio but doesn’t have any substance to it.”

We’ve got our calendars marked.

(Images via YouTube)

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