Taylor Swift is one of the biggest stars in music right now, so it’s not surprising that many other bands choose to cover her songs. If you want to listen to a truly exceptional cover, check out this version of Red by Against The Current.
If you haven’t heard of them, Against The Current is an American pop-rock band who have been making fantastic music since 2011. The founding members were Dan Gow, Will Ferri, and Jeremy Rompala, and they were joined by vocalist Chrissy Costanza a few months later. The final member of the band was Joe Simmons, a bass player
The band’s popularity received a boost due to Will Ferri’s family connections. His brother Mike is a member of the band We Are In The Crowd and an artist manager. Mike also manages Against The Current and has been a big asset, using his connections to arrange covers with big YouTube stars Alex Goot and Kurt Hugo Schneider. This strategy rapidly swelled the band’s fame, and they currently have 2.17 million subscribers.
Jeremy Rompala and Joe Simmons left the band in 2014, but this has had no effect on the band’s productivity. They embarked on a world tour and recorded music for online tournaments for the online game League Of Legends. They have released more than twenty singles, five EPs and two studio albums—their second album, In Our Bones, reached number two on the US Heat chart. Interestingly, this album marked a shift in style away from pop-rock and pop-punk to a purer pop sound.
This shift might explain their choice to cover a song by Taylor Swift, who initially recorded country music but is now massive in the pop genre. Taylor wrote Red for her fourth studio album, also named Red. It was released in 2013 and was moderately successful, reaching number 2 in America and number five in Canada.
Against The Current’s cover is a beautiful acoustic version. The band recorded it in a comfortable sitting room rather than a recording studio. Chrissy sits on a small stool as she sings, and she is accompanied by Dan Gow on guitar and Will Ferri who foregoes a drum kit and instead taps on a piece of wood. There is a pianist but unfortunately, the video’s blurb does not identify him. Chrissy’s voice is quite different from Taylor Swift’s and yet it seems to suit the song perfectly.
The band is all deeply immersed in the music, their bodies moving in time to the beat. The quality of the playing is excellent and Chrissy injects a huge amount of emotion into the song which gives it an edge over other versions. The internet certainly seems to love it: it HAES been watched more than 43 million times. If you’re not one of those viewers take some time and watch it now. If you are, Against The Current have released a lot of popular covers. Why not take a look at their most popular video, a cover of Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s see you again.
If you would like to see more from Against The Current, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Facebook.