I quite like Paloma Faith so I don’t want to be unfair. We’ve even featured her here on the site previously. She’s got a great retro sounding voice, tremendous style and a snazzy quiff. That said, she can be a bit heavy handed in her delivery of a song–particularly when she plays live. With Faith, it’s often bang on or really awful.

Unfortunately, her cover of INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart” is the latter. And it’s a studio-produced record!

I was beyond excited when I heard she would be covering one of my favorites and therefore supremely let down when it didn’t rise to the occasion. Surely she’ll change up the arrangement and really wail into it, I thought.  Just a few seconds into the song, however, it’s clear in spite of a twinkling piano and handful of backup singers Britain’s biggest torch singer can’t hold a flame to Michael Hutchence. She alternates between sneers and strains, which isn’t terribly pleasing to the ear.

It is a beautiful video, though:

I’m of the mind that a cover should be as good if not better than the original or it simply isn’t worth doing. Paloma Faith is certainly a talented singer but her vocals on the track lack the humor and charm necessary to save the song from becoming goofy. She comes across as self-indulgent.

What do you think? Have I been too harsh?