Surrounded by a variety of objects like tubs of cereal, colorful plastic tubes, mugs, and a small instrument called a karimba, anyone who saw Walk Off The Earth gathered together in their living room may not have immediately assumed that they were about to play a musical piece. In fact, they were about to play one of the most unique covers the internet has ever seen, using the objects in front of them as instruments in an ingenious way that will astonish Music Man readers.
The group played a shockingly accurate rendition of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You,’ in a mash-up with TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’ and Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity,’ as they used the plastic tubes and cereal as percussive instruments, with the kalimba leading the main riff. Viewers were especially astonished when, in the middle of the video, a man walked down the stairs eating popcorn and leapt into a split jump, hitting two cymbals with his feet. One viewer commented, “I had to rewind that bit a few times.”
I was astonished by the creativity behind the cover and how successfully they managed to capture the feel of the song, only using household objects. I have been watching music covers on YouTube almost since it was possible to do so, and never before have I seen one like this. It almost makes me want to go around the house and see what I can use to create a cover of my own. You can forget hitting cymbals with a split jump, though. I dread to think of the consequences if I tried that myself.
Walk Off The Earth has made a name for itself through crafting unusual covers, using strange instruments, and building up sounds in unusual ways. Their most popular cover now has a whopping 195M views and shows all five band members playing one guitar for a cover of Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know.’ It’s astonishing to see the chaos of five people’s hands on the strings, while still managing to create a clean and crisp rendition of the song as the entire group works in tandem.
Here at the Music Man, we love seeing unusual and unique ways that people approach music, and Walk Off The Earth has certainly done that. The creativity in their arrangements, playing, and in the videos themselves gives their performances a flavor that is entirely different from anyone else. The only reason they can possibly pull it off is that every single member of the group is on board and ready to work together to make magic happen, and it certainly pays off as they continue to blow the minds of all who watch their one-of-a-kind covers.