Macy Gray to cover Kanye and Metallica on next album

08 February 2012

by Poppy Reid

Two years following her last studio album, Macy Gray has announced she’ll cover Kanye West, Metallica and My Chemical Romance on her next release.

Covered is set for a US release on March 27 with an Australian date still to be confirmed. The Grammy Award-winning singer has told Rolling Stone she was talked out of the project when the idea first hit her in 1999.

"After my first record I wanted to do a covers album, but I guess covers albums have kind of a stigma, they’re not known to do very well and they’re designed for people when they’re not doing their own thing anymore. So I was talked out of it, but I’ve always wanted to do one."

Macy Gray was given the green light fro Metallica’s producer Hal Willner to cover Nothing Else Matters and MCR frontman Gerard Way approved her rendition of Teenagers. The soulstress also met with Aaron Bruno of AWOLNation about her cover of their 2011 track Sail and has been given the go ahead to cover Radiohead’s Creep and the Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again.

Gray did endeavour to cover the work of Fiona Apple as well but she told Rolling Stone the outcome was “disastrous.”

"We tried Criminal and Sleep To Dream, then we tried Extraordinary Machine,” she said. “That was the one we really wanted to do, but it’s hard to do her because her songs are so moody, and if you take it out of that it doesn’t sound right. Her songs are so dark and moody already, so if you move it around it’s weird, and if you do it dark and moody you might as well just leave it as is."

See below for the Covered track list

Here Comes The Rain Again - Eurythmics
Creep - Radiohead
You Want Them Nervous - Skit ft. J.B. Smoove
Smoke 2 Joints - The Toyes
La La La (Teaching The Kids) – ft. Layann Al Saud, Avery Albert, Happy Hinds & Siena Stelber
Teenagers - My Chemical Romance
The Power of Love – ft. Hugh Salk
Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
Sail - AWOL Nation
I Try Is Cool And All But… - Skit ft. Nicole Scherzinger
Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Love Lockdown/Buck - Kanye West/Nina Simone
Mel Rap - ft. Mel Hinds
Bubbly ft. Idris Elba - Colbie Caillat
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
Really? - Skit ft. MC Lyte