‘Better In Blak’ By Thelma Plum Gets Transformed By Beddy Rays For Like A Version
Best Like A Version of the year?
‘Better In Blak’ by Thelma Plum is one of the most astonishing Australian pop songs of the last ten years, a work of triumphant self-expression that sizes up threats both existential and interpersonal and details exactly how they can be overvome.
It is in many ways the summation of Plum’s entire career, a work of towering empathy that explains the world exactly as she sees it. Everything that makes Plum great — her talent for hooky, sheen-covered melodies; her devastating wit and sense of humour; her ability to compress an entire way of life into a neat rhyming couplet — is on display. There is no-one like her, and no song like ‘Better In Blak’.
Little wonder then that it has become such an Australian classic. In our own list of the best songs of 2019, we ranked it one of the stand-out achievements of the year, and the song has gotten extensive radio play on the national youth broadcaster, triple j.
Now the song has been honoured on that radio station, via inclusion in the hugely popular Like A Version segment. Beddy Rays, a band hailing from the outer suburbs of Queensland, have taken on the song, transforming it from a transcendental pop hit into something more furious and much faster.
Not that this is a total transformation. The genius of the cover is the way that it stays true to what made the original special, honing in on Plum’s shimmering empathy while surrounding it with guitar parts that sound rusted in; ancient, and urgent.
Basically, it’s one of the best covers that the Like A Version segment has delivered in some time, which is saying something, given the talent that has been on display as of late.
Watch the cover in full right here, and then while you’re at it, go back and listen to Plum’s original and submerge yourself in its greatness.