On Saturday night I was made aware that pop singer Leona
Lewis was covering a song called “Hurt”, originally written and released by
industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails. I believe Leona Lewis sung this song on
the X Factor recently and the EP was released yesterday, with this song and two
other cover versions of songs by the Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows.
Now my initial reaction was one of disgust and anger. My
feelings haven’t really changed on the situation, but after raising my views
with many people of different interests and musical tastes, it’s not as
straight forward to slam this move as originally thought. There are a lot of
complications and perceptions when it comes to doing cover versions, and who
does them. Before I get into that nitty gritty however let me make you aware of
this song and its importance, in the event you don’t know of it.
“Hurt” was written by Trent Reznor, lead singer and
mastermind of the band Nine Inch Nails, and was the last track on the
critically acclaimed album, “The Downward Spiral”, released back in 1994. Trent
said he wrote this song in his bedroom and it was written when he was at his
lowest ebb, on drugs, depressed, suicidal, and potentially self harming. The
song is usually interpreted in one of two ways, either as a suicide note
(obviously not Reznor himself, but a possible persona he created for the album)
or as someone hanging on the edge of life but manages to cling on and finds
reason for living. Lyrical evidence supports both arguments with the lines “Try
to kill it all away/But I remember everything” and “You are someone else/I am
still right here” can be interpreted in either direction.
In the beginning of 2003, nine years after the song’s
release, country music legend Johnny Cash decided he wanted to cover the song
on his album “American IV: The Man Comes Around”, which had many cover
versions, including songs by Depeche Mode, Simon and Garfunkel and The Beatles.
When the producer of the album, Rick Rubin, asked Trent if Cash could cover the
song Trent said he was flattered due to Johnny Cash’s status as a legendary
singer, but he was concerned it would sound “gimmicky”. Trent never heard
Cash’s version until the music video was made and released and had this to say
when he heard it:
“I pop the video in, and wow... tears welling, silence,
goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song
isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a
medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of
staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and
alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically
different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but
every bit as pure.”
The song has been covered by other artists, although it’s
usually been done live, and as homage to Nine Inch Nails, or maybe because they
too, had serious issues in their lives, or can associate with the people that
have. Artists that have covered it include Tori Amos, Matthew Good, Peter
Murphy, Breaking Benjamin, Underoath, Aaron Lewis, and Sevendust. However the
big difference between Leona Lewis and these artists is simply the genre of
music, and more importantly, the lack of logic behind such a cover version.
I don’t claim to know much about Leona Lewis, she’s not
someone I enjoy listening to and I’ve barely followed her career. What I do
know however is that she is 26 years old and she won the X-Factor back five
years ago. She’s been singing for most of her life and she didn’t get a break
she arguably deserved until she appeared on the TV show. As I said, I don’t
really like her music personally, but I do think she has a fantastic voice; she
is a brilliant singer and as far as a lot of the other X-Factor contestants go
she’s probably the most talented and most deserving winner on the show so far. However,
there’s very little revealed about Leona Lewis’ background and personal life,
but from what I can tell she had a decent upbringing in London from her parents
and was raised musically pretty much her entire life. She seems like a nice
woman, I can’t say she’s ever come across as anything other than a charming and
respectful person who has kept her feet on the ground despite her immense
popularity.
But that’s a lot of the issue here. In a certain way I feel
Leona Lewis has no right to cover “Hurt”. Has she ever “hurt”? I can’t say she
has, not in the depths and stresses the song talks of. Sure, she got hit in the
face two years ago by some idiot, but has she ever been depressed? And by
depressed I don’t mean she split up with her boyfriend and felt down. I mean
she has suffered through anxiety and can’t face to looking out of her own
window. Has she ever felt like hurting herself, to deal with depression? Has
she ever felt suicidal? I really doubt she has.
But for Leona Lewis to even contemplate covering such a
song, is appalling. This isn't a pop song. This isn't a song that a pop singer
with a cushy lifestyle should be touching. And I’m sorry I’m being blunt but in
comparison to what the people who find comfort in this song have gone through,
she has a cushy lifestyle. Yes, Trent Reznor was addicted to drugs. I’m sure a
lot of people who understand and seek assurance with the track have too. But,
does Leona Lewis don't have any idea what the song is about? And if she does,
is she really a person that should be singing a song about such upsetting
topics?
This cover version isn’t about raising awareness, if it was
I’m sure Leona Lewis would have made that clear by now. If she has suffered, or
a friend or family member suffered, and she wants to show understanding, she
would have said so by now. And if it’s about homage, has she even come to
understand that it’s Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails that wrote this song? If
so she hasn’t shown it.
There is an argument to this opinion of mine, one that I am
aware of, and that is about the rights to the track. Does Trent Reznor, the
lyricist, or Interscope Records, the record company, have rights to the track?
It’s still not clear if Reznor has the rights, or if it’s the record company.
There’s a point to be made regardless of who has the rights to the song and
that is in the end, Reznor gave away the move for this cover version to happen
in the first place. If Intercrope have the rights to the song, it’s only
natural that they would agree for such a huge pop star like Leona Lewis to
cover the song, as it would give them a lot of money. If however, it is Reznor
that has the rights to his own music, then he gave Leona Lewis direct
permission to cover the song. And if so, why? Trent Reznor is a clever man in
the respect that he rarely makes moves based on money and greed, but for the
good and honourable options available. Johnny Cash is a country music legend,
and someone who was unfortunately close to a terminal state when he asked for
the rights to cover the song. Leona Lewis is a pop singer, and it’s often clear
that Reznor has a large distaste for that genre of music. In my opinion the
chances are low that it is Trent that gave Leona Lewis a big, juicy thumbs up
for covering this song but it’s not been made clear at all.
In the end one thing is for certain is that someone is
cashing in on Leona Lewis’ mainstream popularity against the logic and understanding
of the contents in which she will be singing. Someone once said that the topic
shouldn’t dictate who sings it, but there should be I feel. Especially when
it’s such an important topic. But it doesn’t matter what I think, what matters
is on written paper contracts, and the empires that control them. And if it is Interscope that have the rights to this song, this is an empire that does exactly just that. And while
it’s not the “empire of dirt” that Trent speaks of in this prestigious song,
it’s an Empire of Dirt that chooses making money over keeping songs like this
immaculate and untouched. An Empire of Dirt that would rather put their slime
on the feelings of thousands of sufferers for the sake of making a quick buck.
And it really shows that money indeed, is what makes the world go round.
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