Radio 1 DJs give us their all-time favourite Live Lounge covers

By Luke Morgan Britton, 1 November 2018

The cover version is a major part of what makes the Live Lounge so unique and especially personal for the artists involved. Twenty One Pilots treated us to a rendition of 9 Crimes by Damien Rice, while earlier this week Nick Grimshaw delved into the Live Lounge archive, and played a number of classics - including Kings of Leon's cover of Robyn's Dancing on my Own, Florence + The Machine taking on Drake and more - to determine the all-time very best. Listen back here.

"I love finding out what artists have chosen to cover and what songs resonate with them," Grimmy says. "It’s interesting to know which of their peers they’ve been listening to, who they respect and why."

But what are the personal favourite Live Lounge covers of Radio 1's DJs and presenters? We asked them that very question...

"I get asked all the time what my favourite Live Lounge cover is and it's a really difficult question to answer," says Live Lounge host Clara Amfo, stating that her "most recent favourite" is Ariana Grande covering Them Changes by neo-jazz/funk musician Thundercat earlier this year.

"Nobody saw that coming and she just had a lot of fun with it," Clara says of Ariana's rather left-field cover choice. "Ariana choosing that showed that she has such an open ear."

"It was the perfect meeting of my musical tastes," Clara adds. "I love Thundercat - he's incredible, alternative and bizarre, while Ariana is an amazing pop artist who is a great writer and vocalist too."

Miley Cyrus' 2013 cover of Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness is one that "sticks in my mind", says Nick Grimshaw. "It was peak Miley, during the Wrecking Ball-era. I was doing the Breakfast Show at the time and I stayed behind afterwards to watch it live. If you look back at the video, you can see my face in the background, squashed against the glass like a little kid."

At the time, Grimmy says Miley was perhaps better known for her "twerking and partying", but the Live Lounge was the perfect place for Cyrus’ rich, country-toned vocals to shine. "It’s so bare in the Live Lounge, you can hear everything. It’s quite warts-and-all," Grimmy notes. "I think respect for her went through the roof after that performance... I really love Miley’s voice, it has a real authenticity to it."

Grimmy is a huge fan of Lana's original, but argues that Cyrus' version didn’t even feel like a cover. "It felt like a song that Miley had really lived with. She made it feel like more than just a cover, it sounded like her own story that she was telling. She’s able to really tell a story with her voice. That was the first time I really noticed that."

For Adele Roberts, picking just one standout Live Lounge performance was agonisingly difficult, but she eventually went with Christine and the Queens' cover of Beyoncé's Sorry at Maida Vale in 2016. "It was one of the most incredible Live Lounge performances - not only to listen to but to watch as well," Adele tells us.

"She just loses herself in the music. It's one of those performances where you feel like the original artist needs to see it. Beyoncé needs to check it out - I think she would really love it. Maybe Beyoncé could cover the cover version - it's that good."

"Beyoncé is a hard artist to cover because she can really sing. If you’re going to cover Beyoncé then you have to bring it!" Adele thinks Chris definitely brought it: "She reworked the song - really broke it all down and built it up again, giving it an 80s funk feel too."

"It was just incredible," Adele adds. "It showed how creative she is and how much she loves music. I love it when an artist covers another artist and you can tell how they really love and believe in the song, but also give it a little bit extra. She handled that track with care and you could really tell that she had thought about it."

There have been lots of Live Lounge highlights for Jordan North over the years: The 1975's hour-long Live Lounge special from the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool in 2016 - especially as Jordan grew up nearby in Burnley and Preston. And Shawn Mendes earlier this year, which was the first time that he guest-hosted a Live Lounge, sitting in for Clara Amfo. "I was a nervous wreck and had a bit of a 'what is going on?' type moment," Jordan remembers.

But Jordan's favourite remains the very first Live Lounge he heard: Arctic Monkeys covering Girls Aloud's Love Machine in 2006. "It’s an obvious choice, and everyone’s probably expecting me to say this," Jordan admits, before adding that he still laughs every time he hears Alex Turner crack up halfway through the performance.

"I loved it so much that I bought the Live Lounge CD," he explains. "I reckon it’s probably still at my mum’s house somewhere."

It’s become something of a rite of passage for indie bands to cover pop hits in the Live Lounge but at the time, it was a bold move from Turner and co. "It made me realise just how cool they were to pull that off," Jordan says. "It was a big statement and it showed they weren’t taking themselves too seriously."

"They really made it their own, it sounded like a song that could have been on their first album."

Slaves are Live Lounge veterans by this point and have graced us with some pretty epic and diverse covers - taking on everyone from Wham! to The Weeknd. Perhaps their most memorable though is when they covered Skepta's Shutdown in 2015.

For Jack Saunders, host of Radio 1's Indie Show, it's an all-time fave. Jack says: "They proved that punk and hip hop have a lot more in common than people may realise."

Jack wasn't the only fan of Slaves' rendition, though. It turns out that Skepta himself saw their version and liked where they went with it, so much so that he performed the song live with the Tunbridge Wells duo at Radio 1's Big Weekend that same year.

Since then, the cover has become a main component of the band's live set - frontman Isaac even has a go at the female spoken-word interlude. Slaves played it again while headlining the Radio 1 Stage at Reading + Leeds this summer and, according to Jack, "it was wild".

Live Lounge Month 2018 promises to offer up more classics and Grimmy is particularly looking forward to Jorja Smith’s performance (Monday 5 November). "She blows me away. I think she’s phenomenal," he says. Nick also really loved Rita Ora’s Madonna and Travis Scott mash-up from 2017 and wonders what she’s going to do this year.

Clara's list is rather lengthy, but includes Hozier ("his voice is flipping beautiful"), Christine and the Queen (who she "loves") and Rudimental ("they always make so much effort with their arrangements. There hasn't been a time that they've performed and I haven't just got up and danced").

Jordan North, meanwhile, is looking forward to Mumford & Sons & Live Lounge Symphony (Thursday 29 November).

As for Adele Roberts, she can't wait to see Christine and the Queens (Wednesday 21 November) again and is "interested to see what her new alter-ego Chris brings to the Live Lounge."

• Live Lounge Month - See who's playing in 2018

Like Radio 1 on Facebook, or follow on Instagram at BBCRadio1, and on Twitter at @BBCR1.