Charlotte Cardin, Alessia Cara and more cover songs from Justin Bieber's new album
The Canadian singers show love to the pop star's 7th album, Swag
With no promotional lead-up, Justin Bieber emerged from a four-year musical hiatus on July 11 with Swag, his seventh album. It's a collection of songs that surprised fans: on it, the Stratford, Ontario-born pop and R&B star makes unexpected musical leaps, leaning on the influence of indie darlings Mk.gee and Dijon, SZA's go-to producer Carter Lang and more to explore a new sound.
The lead single, Daisies, is expected to debut at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, while covers of it and other songs off the album have been flooding social media.
While on her Canadian summer tour, Montreal pop singer Charlotte Cardin took some time out of her rehearsal to cover Daisies, posting a video on TikTok where she flexed her drum skills while singing the first verse and chorus. It's not the first time she's covered a song by the fellow Canadian: in 2021, Cardin sang Beiber's Love Yourself on Parisian radio station RTL2, and in 2016 she put her own spin on Sorry.
Toronto's Alessia Cara, who's been a Belieber since 2010, posted a video of herself singing Yukon on TikTok. Bieber's original includes pitched-up vocals that give the song an extra earwormy quality, and Cara's tone suits the cover perfectly. Cara told CBC Music in an interview earlier this year that she can "recite every word of all his albums," so it's no surprise she's already learning Swag. Like Cardin, this is not Cara's first foray into Bieber covers: she performed a jazz version of Stay on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2021, and covered Love Yourself in 2015.
Vancouver folk artist Kaleah Lee also covered Yukon, her serene vocals floating over electric guitar plucking. Aside from her original music, Lee is known for her stunning renditions of songs by Taylor Swift, Maggie Rogers, Bon Iver, Mustafa and Clairo.
Even Courteney Cox threw her hat in the ring, posting herself drumming along to Daisies on Instagram. The Friends actor wrote in the caption: "Didn't get all the beats but fun trying to learn it."
