What happens when Matisyahu, the Hasidic rapper previously nominated for a Best Reggae Album Grammy, applies his falsetto and beatboxing skills to a Kings of Leon hit that just took home both the Best Rock Performance and Record of the Year Grammys? A surprisingly tender performance that brings out the bittersweet yearning of the Followill boys' "Use Somebody."
Sans his usual wide brimmed black hat and with his payos curls tucked under a baseball cap and hoodie, Matisyahu closed eyes and transformed Kings of Leon's mid-tempo love song, stripping the power ballad down to an acoustic guitar and the delicate upper registers of his own vocal range. The reggae singer, whose track "One Day" was one of NBC's official songs of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, chose to cover "Use Somebody," he says, "because I felt it was a great vocal performance... There are a lot of songs out there about the music and how it makes your body feel, but this song is about the vocal and the emotion that comes across in his voice."
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