Hear Rivers Cuomo Cover Outkast, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, and Nirvana

By Kory Grow

Kory Grow

What’s cooler than being cool? Maybe hearing Rivers Cuomo attempt an acoustic cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya.”

Anyone who’s seen Weezer live already knows Rivers Cuomo’s penchant for covering songs he loves genuinely, ironically, or something in between. Over the weekend, Cuomo uploaded 16 snippets of his own acoustic renditions of other people’s songs to a playlist titled “randum cuverz.” The songs include Radiohead’s “Creep,” Green Day’s “When I Come Around,” Nirvana’s “Lithium” and “Drain You,” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” among others.

Some of the recordings have dates on them indicating Cuomo recorded them between 2018 and 2021. Most are just snippets, running between a minute and 90 seconds, like he was messing around and decided to hit record on his phone to see what any given song would sound like, though “Hey Ya” and Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” last four minutes, and “Drain You” and “Lithium” last about three minutes. Unfortunately, his take on Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine” all run on the shorter side. Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” is all of 23 seconds.

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