Prepare yourself for some serious musical whiplash, because Kota Banks has tackled Travis Scott‘s bloody huge SICKO MODE for this week’s Like A Version. I can’t imagine what it must have been like listening to this one first thing in the morning because it’s truly like a rollercoaster of a cover.
Kota Banks took on every part of the massive 2018 hit, stretching herself right across all 400 phases of the song and belting out both Travis and Drake’s parts without missing a beat. I’m shook.
Truly, that shift from the delicate piano at the top of the cover into the hard drums and guitar pretty much blew me backwards off my chair. Apparently it lit the famed Triple J textline up, with one person saying that they burst into tears when the drop hit. If you’re getting that kind of reaction from folks at 8am in the morning, then you know you’re onto something red hot.
SICKO MODE was always going to be a very big task to take on for a Like A Version cover, and I won’t lie; I was dubious that anyone could pull it off successfully. But this, my God. It’s got this powerful energy that I think would only come from three women vocalists taking on a song that’s got such strong masculine energy around it.
There are moments that sound like Billie Eilish and others that reek of Rage Against The Machine. I don’t even know how she’s managed to weave those two together, but I simply must respect it.
But because it’s such a huge track to take on, it’s definitely divided listeners, with comments sections split right down the middle on whether this is a good take, or if turning the Travis Scott banger into her own thing was too much for Kota to reach for.
Check out the whole cover from Kota Banks below, and honestly, if this is the level of Friday covers we’re getting at the top of the year, then 2020 is going to be a big year.
