Nashville singer Anna Hamilton lit up Imagine Dragons’ hit “Bad Liar” with her soulful country-pop take on the song. She performed the track as a duet with an acoustic guitarist, and her crooning vocals really bring out the emotions of the song. Her version was quite a hit, with 131 million listeners enjoying the YouTube video, which you can watch below.
This viewership is really quite remarkable because it rivals the views for the official video clip by megastars Imagine Dragons, which pulled in 464 million views. The original version is done in the band’s signature electropop style, but Hamilton really gives the song a new lease on life with her stripped-back acoustic take.
Hamilton leans into her Nashville origins and adds a soft country style to the verse, before kicking into gear with some pop belting in the chorus. Listeners were big fans of hearing the song in this new way, adding comments such as “After hearing every version of this song, I can confidently say that this is the best!”
Another popular video from Hamilton is her song “Stay”, which she again performs in an intimate style with just her voice and piano playing. She again shows off her incredible range and unique vocal style, prompting listeners to praise the soul and passion she puts into her singing. The song also shows off her beautiful and dynamic piano work. Check out the performance below.
In recent years Hamilton has kicked off her original music career, which began with her debut single “Self Help” in 2020. This song addressed mental health and she followed it up with another seven singles over the past three years, the most popular of which is her duet with Zach Seabaugh “Maybe in the Morning”.
Many listeners of Hamilton’s original songs mention discovering her through her viral cover of “Bad Liar”. The song is cut from Imagine Dragons’ fourth album Origins and was the fourth single from the release. The band released the album in November 2018 and Hamilton dropped her cover in early December, with such timeliness no doubt helping to drive viewership.
“Bad Liar” peaked at #56 on the BIllboard Hot 100, making it the second biggest song from the album, just behind lead single “Natural”, which went all the way to #13. Buoyed by the latter song, the album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified Platinum, with one million copies sold in the US.
In “Bad Liar” Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds addressed his tumultuous relationship with his now ex-wife Aja Volkman. The track is one of the band’s darker songs lyrically and Idolator praised the song as a “brutally honest breakup anthem”. Heartbreak is perhaps the favourite topic of country singers worldwide so the song was just begging to get the heartland treatment, and luckily Hamilton was there to deliver it for us.
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