Need something fresh to listen to this summer? We’ve rounded up 10 of the best twenty one pilots covers that you need to hear. We’ve tried to pick a wide variety of different songs and styles, to best represent the world of tøp covers. Have you seen them all?
1. Polarize- Tessa Violet
To kick off this list, we have a well-produced cover of Polarize. Tessa and her producer, Jesse Cale, put a lot of effort into every aspect of this cover. The visuals, instrumentals, and Tessa’s beautiful vocals blend together perfectly to create a harmonious cover. Tessa’s facial expressions and movements are also very captivating, and add extra meaning to her performance. This one is probably the most professional and polished cover on the list!
2. Guns for Hands – Social Repose
Definitely the most creative cover on this list, Richie from Social Repose uses repeated sounds to create the instrumental of Guns for Hands. With the help of various household objects, such as a balloon, water glasses, and a pot, he makes sounds that resemble the backing music. He then loops and layers the sounds while editing to create an extremely realistic sounding instrumental. Richie also has a strong, articulate, and passionate singing voice, which fits well with almost any twenty one pilots song. He has also covered many other songs of theirs, which you can find within this playlist.
3. Goner- Dodie Clark
We’ve already mentioned this video in our article about Dodie Clark’s best covers, but it’s definitely worth mentioning again. Goner is a song full of emotion and meaning, and Dodie absolutely nails both of these in her cover. She invests herself fully in her performance and conveys the emotions of the song using her voice and body exceptionally well. There aren’t as many piano covers of twenty one pilots songs out there, so it’s definitely refreshing to see.
4. Ride- Alex Aiono
This cover of Ride stays very close to the original, but Alex still manages to add his own flair. His vocal range and abilities easily cover the rapping, high notes and soft parts present in the song. The instrumentals he produced are consistent and of top quality, especially the sounds looped at the beginning. Alex’s commitment and passion for the music really shines through in this cover.
5. The Judge- cavetown
Next, we look at a more classically formatted cover- a boy singing in his bedroom with a ukulele. Cavetown strums the instrument with confidence and purpose, and has a voice to match his style. The Judge is likely not the easiest song to cover, due to its higher range of notes and the length of the song. However, he hits every high note precisely without straining his voice, and doesn’t seem to tire at any point during the 5 minutes of the song. He has a special vocal talent, that can translate well in many other songs. Some even commented he could be a younger version of Tyler Joseph!
6. Stressed Out- MightyMouseDex
With this next video, we step into the world of drum covers on YouTube. There are many channels dedicated to covering just the drum part of a song, but not many are on the same level as this guy! Dexter is 8 years old and possesses an insane talent for the drums. His intensity, accuracy and style in this cover is remarkable to witness, and we’re not the only ones who think so! Josh Dun, the drummer of twenty one pilots, recognized Dexter on Twitter for this amazing cover and his well-developed talent on the drums.
7. heavydirtysoul- Alyx Bacon
There aren’t that many vocal covers of heavydirtysoul out there. The fast rapping can be extremely intimidating, it almost seems impossible that anyone other than Tyler Joseph himself can pull it off. However, Alyx performed the rap and the rest of the song with ease. Her vocal range is impressive, and it is evident that she is a genuine fan of the song and twenty one pilots. She is loaded with talent and definitely someone to watch out for in the future!
8. Lane Boy/Stressed Out- Bry
Our next cover comes from Bry, who has actually played a show with twenty one pilots! His upcoming album is produced by Greg Wells, who has also produced for twenty one pilots. Bry managed to seamlessly weave Lane Boy and Stressed Out together for this mashup cover. The sections he chose fit well together, both musically and lyrically. The rapping in Lane Boy doesn’t faze him, and it sounds unique with his strong Irish accent! The sound of an electric guitar also adds something new to the songs.
9. Kitchen Sink- Isabelle Hyde
Get your tissues ready, because this cover of Kitchen Sink will probably make you cry. Isabelle shows her wide range of musical abilities in this cover, by playing the ukulele with ease and precison, singing the higher pitched breathy parts, and absolutely nailing the quick rapping section. She also sings with passion and emotion in her voice, and it’s not hard to tell the song holds a special meaning for her. Again, there aren’t many successful covers of this song out there, because it’s quite intimidating to try to sing. However, Isabelle was able to perform it accurately and with emotion, which is no small feat.
10. Heathens- 8 Bit Universe
To round off the list, we have a rather unique cover of twenty one pilots most recent song, Heathens. As mentioned in our 8 Bit Universe covers article, 8-Bits are technical sounding noises often used in video games. This cover of Heathens stays very true to the original, even the smallest background sounds are replicated! It’s definitely worth a listen to see how well the 8-Bit sounds suit the song. 8 Bit Universe have also covered many other twenty one pilots songs, which you can find a playlist of here.
Which cover was your favourite from this list? Did we miss any other awesome twenty one pilots covers? Let us know on Twitter @CelebMix.
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