While Spookey Ruben's 2020 included an EP of remixes, the Canadian's 2021 has now brought listeners a cover of SZA's "Good Days."
Ruben's rework of last year's SZA single finds him approaching the song from a pumped-up, pop-rock angle. An accompanying video directed by Hak Tatah brings the artist, his sweet-looking guitar and his brilliant red tracksuit down to the beach for some waterfront shredding, ahead of racing along the shoreline with a not-so-spooky Spookey Ruben banner fluttering behind him.
Ruben tells Exclaim! that the cover was cut in the spirit of fun, ahead of releasing a new solo album in early 2022. "I realized that over the years besides a couple of cover songs I'd throw into my live set once in a while (e.g. 'Golden Brown' by the Stranglers or 'Magic' by Pilot) I had never actually properly recorded and released a cover version of a song by another artist."
The artist discovered SZA while surfing YouTube, and promptly became "an instant fan." He shares, "When I heard 'Good Days,' I immediately thought 'How the hell would I sing this?' Her style of singing is so otherworldly and outside of my wheelhouse. It became a tricky challenge, plus, it was important to me to fully reimagine 'Good Days' as something of my own — otherwise what's the point?"
While Ruben concedes that he may have "bent the cover song rules a bit" through the inclusion of an original chorus section and omission of select lyrics, you can hear his equally upbeat take on SZA's latest in the player below.
Through his own Hi-Hat Recordings, Ruben shared an EP collecting reworks of his song "When Your Heart Says Yes" last year, which included a remix by Mac DeMarco.
Ruben's rework of last year's SZA single finds him approaching the song from a pumped-up, pop-rock angle. An accompanying video directed by Hak Tatah brings the artist, his sweet-looking guitar and his brilliant red tracksuit down to the beach for some waterfront shredding, ahead of racing along the shoreline with a not-so-spooky Spookey Ruben banner fluttering behind him.
Ruben tells Exclaim! that the cover was cut in the spirit of fun, ahead of releasing a new solo album in early 2022. "I realized that over the years besides a couple of cover songs I'd throw into my live set once in a while (e.g. 'Golden Brown' by the Stranglers or 'Magic' by Pilot) I had never actually properly recorded and released a cover version of a song by another artist."
The artist discovered SZA while surfing YouTube, and promptly became "an instant fan." He shares, "When I heard 'Good Days,' I immediately thought 'How the hell would I sing this?' Her style of singing is so otherworldly and outside of my wheelhouse. It became a tricky challenge, plus, it was important to me to fully reimagine 'Good Days' as something of my own — otherwise what's the point?"
While Ruben concedes that he may have "bent the cover song rules a bit" through the inclusion of an original chorus section and omission of select lyrics, you can hear his equally upbeat take on SZA's latest in the player below.
Through his own Hi-Hat Recordings, Ruben shared an EP collecting reworks of his song "When Your Heart Says Yes" last year, which included a remix by Mac DeMarco.
