Birdy “Shelter (the xx Cover)”
UK-born Birdy (real name: Jasmine Van den Bogaerde) turned plenty of heads earlier this year with her cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love”, gussying up the intimate For Emma, Forever Ago folk ballad with a heart-wrenching, made-for-CW-primetime piano-pop weariness and maturely polished vocal that probably would have been burned down amidst fiery cries of “Blasphemy!!” had it not been for the fascinating fact that the singer-pianist was only FOURTEEN YEARS AGO (!!!!!).
Looking to repeat the commercial success of that surprisingly ace number (it eventually peaked in the Top 20 in the UK), Birdy heads to the novelty well once again by covering another recent indie-world fave for her second single–this time wrapping her prodigious, ivory-tinkling claws in The xx’s “Shelter”–and, similar to its predecessor, what results is mightily impressive.
Hearing the youngster instill so much emotion and soul into the unrequited love lament is downright goosebump-inducing, the lonely sparseness of her bare-bones piano arrangement and aching burn in her increasingly diva-ish wails (near the end, painting her as a young-ish Adele) beautifully realizing the apocalyptic despair that comes when romance pains such as the one described in the lyric are lain on a teenager.
It’ll be interesting to see if this young talent will be able to pack the same wallop when it comes to her original material.
