For some reason, there have been a bunch of covers popping up in EDM this month — Rick Astley covering “Titanium” (though not an official release), Timmy Trumpet working with Vengaboys to re-release “Up & Down,” KSHMR covering “Kids.” Some are good, some could have just stayed on the hard drive. Now, Don Diablo has released his cover (remix?) of “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, which fans have apparently been waiting for for four years. But is it worth the wait? We say no.
Over on the /r/hexagonians subreddit, Don Diablo fans are going absolutely crazy over the track, calling it “one of the best releases from Don Diablo” and “the best thing that’s happened in 2020 so far.” Call us old fashioned, but we definitely give more love to “What We Started,” “Cutting Shapes,” “Chemicals,” “M1 Stinger,” and the like.
“Mr. Brightside” is an absolute classic and unarguably one of the best pop songs of all time. What Don has done to it — slowing down the vocals, putting a generic future house production over the top, though the drop does have a pleasant melody… — isn’t showing justice to the original at all. It’s also a little unclear whether this is even a cover or a remix. The lack of (Don Diablo Remix) in the song title on Spotify leads us to the former. But those vocals sound pretty close to Brandon Flowers, don’t they? 
Discussions on /r/hexagonians seem to debate what’s going on, too. One commenter says “he got official permission from The Killers,” but another post just 10 months ago says the group “denied Don the rights to release his version with their vocals.” If it really is a cover, the vocal imitation is the best going for it.
We aren’t going to sit here and say “you can’t like this,” but it’s definitely a pass from us. Listen below.
Photo via Rukes.com
