Top Ten Cover Songs by Girl Groups or Boy Bands

By saying girlgroups and boybands I mean groups of whom every member is of the same sex and is a singer. A group of which only some of the members sing and others only perform instruments won't count, as it is just a normal band (of course the members can play instruments additionally). That's what most articles say is the basic definition, and I can only agree.

Other than that, it depends on your own views.

Personally, my common sense tells me that a girlgroup or boyband consists of at least three people, performs pop, dance or modern RnB music, and had relatively young members when their career started (such bands usually disband sooner or later, but the Backstreet Boys have been around for over 20 years now and I'd still regard them as a boyband).

I would personally never regard an acapella group of middle aged men as a boyband. It's a bit tricky with other genres that are also commercially successful. Some sources call the all female German hip hop trio Tic Tac Toe a girlgroup, which I disagree with, but others might not. Now, Pistol Annies perform country rock but I still get a girlgroup vibe from them.

The most controversial aspect may be if duos count as "groups" or "bands". I won't add them, but feel free to do it if you feel it fits.

That much about what groups count. As for the songs: only actual covers count. No samples or something that you feel is a ripoff.
The Top Ten
1 Sway - The Pussycat Dolls

Originally by Dean Martin, whose version is an English adaption of "¿Quién Sera? " by Pablo Beltrán.

Okay, I will just say it: this is my favorite recording of the song. Yes, not the classic version by Dean Martin, this one. It's also probably the best song recorded by PCD. The instrumental is very traditionally jazzy, gladly there is no electronic or pop update to it, and Scherzinger gives a sensual, tender performance perfect for a Spanish dance. Which brings me to the elephant in the room: yes, Scherzinger was the lead singer and the other dolls were more or less a background choir, but they always appeared as one group, and they are all on the cover, and they all did sing.

2 If I Was Your Girlfriend - TLC

Originally by Prince.

TLC's version is a great cover of a great song, even though it's probably the most similar cover ever recorded of any song. They bring in crooning soul with rough vocals just like Prince did.

Somewhat ironic for the most similar cover of all time to come from such a different music act. Not suggesting a competition but in her early career Alessia Cara generally made covers very similar to the originals.

3 There Must Be an Angel - No Angels

Originally by Eurythmics.

The modern pop version by the first German "Popstars" winners topped the German charts, and became one of their most well known and popular songs. The original may be better and more musically inventive, but this is a fun pop jam as well.

4 The Boys are Back - Us5

Originally by Zac Efron & Corbin Bleu.

Thd hype around "High School Musical" was HUGE. Like, it was the biggest thing for every tween and young teen, and when the third installment hit German cinemas (the first time one of the movies was in theaters), the popular boyband US5 recorded a cover of the soundtrack song "The Boys Are Back" to promote the movie even more than the hype already did. It surely also helped their own sales.
The song is unusally rock inspired for the band, having a dominating distorted electric guitar riff throughout.

5 Walk This Way - Girls Aloud & Sugababes

Originally by Aerosmith, based on the Run DMC cover.

Great Britain's two biggest girlgroups of their time got together to cover this classic of rock rap for charity. Even though I am only something of a fan of the Sugababes, who were the greatest girlgroup of all time in my opinion, because they had attitude, personality and actually wrote their own songs, both groups give a good performance as two rivaling gangs annoying the other. Unfortunately, it can't be found on any album.

6 Freak Like Me - Sugababes

Originally by Adina Howard, also contains a sample of "Are Friends Electric? " by Gary Numan, but that's not why it's on here.

One of the few non-original songs by Sugababes, but they completely changed the tone with the Numan sample, making it much more electronica inspired than the original version. Not one of my favorites by them, but it's okay. This version was more successful in Europe than the original version.

7 All Cried Out - No Angels

Originally by Alison Moyet.

The cover was originally recorded as a big band version for their swing album "When the Angels Swing", but when it was released as a single they recorded a more radio compatible pop version as well.
I prefer the swing version, but this one is good as well. The band members can sing and had good pop producers behind them.
Both versions had a music video.

8 Tainted Love - The Pussycat Dolls

Originally by Gloria Jones, but based on the Soft Cell cover. There is also a short interpolation of "Where Did Our Love Go? " by The Supremes, but again based on the Soft Cell version.

Technically, PCD weren't a really good girlgroup. One member was much in the spotlight, the songs did not have that much that stood out, and they lacked a certain personality that e.g. the Sugababes or the Spice Girls had. But I somehow liked them. They were okay. You shouldn't take them too serious, then you can enjoy them. Like this cover.

9 One Way or Another - One Direction

I didn't add this, obviously it's a Blondie cover.

I don't know much about or by One Direction other than that they are really hated and three or four songs (which I think are the definition of average - forgettable and without innovation, but not outstandingly bad) but... this sounds actually quite good. It has a certain rock vibe to it that I don't know from many boy bands, and their voices have this certain coolness that fits the song. I'd say this is a very well done cover that does justice to the original by keeping the punk vibe and just slightly modernizing it.

10 Atlantis 2002 - No Angels & Donovan

Originally by Donovan as "Atlantis".

Of course, this pop cover, which actually has Donovan speaking the verses, isn't as good as the folk original, but I think the No Angels released some fun pop. The song was used to promote the Disney movie "Atlantis" in Germany.

The Contenders
11 King Kong - Shanadoo

Originally by Hinoi Team, whose version is a Japanese version of that ridiculous E-Rotic song. Interestingly, both the E-Rotic version and the Shanadoo version were produced by David Brandes, but not Hinoi Team's.

What I didn't like about Shanadoo is that despite being a Japanese girl band, they are obviously aimed at European audiences because anime was so huge in the German language territories back then. They used terms like "ninja", "samurai", "anime" and similar in their titles. They also sounded nothing like J-Pop or J-Rock, Brandes' production is very eurodance-ish. But it's okay if you don't dig too deep into it.

12 Hopelessly Devoted - Play
13 Whole Again - Play
14 One of Us - US5

Originally by ABBA.

It goes without saying that this is in no way as good as the original. The beat is way too loud and hip hop-ish and doesn't in the slightest fit to the gentle, vulnerable melody and vocals. When you try to cover a legendary artist you either give your absolute best to perform it as a tribute OR make something completely different out if it. It is allowed to cover this song, but don't try to somehow sing it as soft and sensitive as the original but at the same time give it a "fresh and cool" new beat (with "uhh" shouts interpolated into the beat). I was a fan of the group in 2005 as a little kid, but they are actually average. On my copy of the album it says "ABBA Mania Theme Song" next to the title. I don't know what ABBA Mania was.

15 I Will Wait - Little Mix
BAdd New Item