In today’s society, the general public is predisposed to follow the most recent fad. In other words, a fad can be a new hair style, fashion style, or in this case, a popular song. However, little does the general society know that some of the songs they regularly listen to are based off of originals. Being exposed to “new” and “updated” versions of adaptations can easily and drastically affect the general public’s popular vote, especially through the media. This paper will analyze the different types of song covers with a few examples in relation to the variations of covers, and essentially analyze Adele’s famous song “Hello” and its covers by further discussing the original version of the song and its analysis in context of popularity. First, it will provide the definition for the concepts of adaptation, or in this case, cover songs, as well as some …show more content…
Marc studies the transfer of culture, gender, race, and ideology in cover songs. She gives the example of Julio Iglesias’ cover of the song “La Mer”, a French classic by Charles Trenet, and how it underwent a complete cultural and stylistic change (Marc). The original song is bleak, whereas the cover is much more joyful. The cultural change reflects in the music genre because the French version has the typical characteristics and elements of a classic French song, while the cover version lacks those elements and puts the song into another context. The song went through further cultural appropriation when it was covered by Bobby Darin, who translated the song into English, and the song reached the top of the American charts. Marc says that “It was then fully appropriated by American culture and covered in turn by many other English-speaking artists, becoming an original in its own right, without any or nearly no reference for much of this new audience to “La Mer”.”