Repurposing old rock classics for EDM covers and remixes has become oddly common over the past couple of years — maybe it’s a lack of original ideas, maybe it’s an appeal to an older audience, maybe the artist has a true appreciation for the classics. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. This week, Steve Aoki, GATTÜSO, and Aukoustics reimagine R.E.M.’s classic “Losing My Religion” with help from MKLA.
“Losing My Religion” is, by far, R.E.M.’s biggest song, outstreaming their next biggest song by three times on Spotify. And it’s for good reason. The melancholy tone of the song paired with the comparatively sparse lyrics present a wonderful depiction of, well, losing your religion.
And while this group of producers might have succeeded in creating a dancefloor anthem for the current era (whether they did or not is entirely subjective), it’s hard to deny that they lose a lot of the meaning of the song in the recreation.
“Losing My Religion is my favorite of all R.E.M. songs, and I loved them growing up as a kid,” Steve Aoki shares. “It was time to bring it back and make a 2021 version for the dancefloor that people wouldn’t expect. We flipped it and made it special.”
GATTÜSO adds, “Steve had a clear vision for how it would need to be sculpted and I learned a lot in the process. It’s great to see this plan come together after a lot of work, and I’m excited for everyone to hear it.”
You can listen to it below.
