When Justin J. Moore covered the Goo Goo Dolls’ greatest hit, he didn’t want his version to get lost amidst the hundreds of other “Iris” covers rattling about on YouTube. So he did something completely unexpected, which would send pop rock fans across the internet into meltdown mode.
Amassing more than 375,000 views to date, Music Man readers can watch Justin’s jaw-dropping rendition unfold in the viral video below…
Justin kicks off his Goo Goo Dolls cover by singing a line in the style of the band’s original singer, Johnny Rzeznik. It’s an unbelievable musical impression, so spot-on that, without watching the clip of Justin singing the line himself, you might be convinced that it was actually Johnny’s own voice!
But then, Justin does the unexpected. He takes on the voices of countless other greats of the pop rock scene, delivering a line or two in their iconic styles. With so many diverse artist impressions, it’d be easy to think it’d form quite a hit-and-miss cover. Yet Justin nails each and every one of them.
His James Blunt impression sounds just like the real thing; each oddity and nuance of Blunt’s legendary vocal style being mastered by Justin in one take. Blink 182’s Tom Delonge steals a line in the first verse, with Justin switching up his vocal tone dramatically to slay the moment, before his Ed Sheeran impression brings things back into the Goo Goo Dolls’ original acoustic pop sound.
From Charlie Puth’s pitch range to Michael Buble’s trademark tones, Justin dabbles with a constellation of voices, one after the other in this one-take video. It’d be astounding to hear these voices mimicked in stand-alone clips, but the fact Justin switches perfectly between them in one clean performance, with no cuts or editing, makes him an instant internet legend.
Owl City, Brendon Urie, Cher, Billie Joe Armstrong, Adam Levine, Chris Martin, Bono, Gerard Way and even Steven Tyler complete this show-stopping cover. But, by the end, after so many musical impressions, viewers might be left wondering what Justin’s authentic singing voice really sounds like…
For the last chorus, Justin sings in his own unique style, proving he’s not just an impressionist, but a singer in his own right, with a vocal style as mesmerizing and unique as the greats.
Fans have been fighting in the comments section over which impression was the best, and which surprised them the most. Countless commenters have been writing along the lines of, “That was literally the best Brendon Urie impression I’ve ever heard,” others have been sharing, “That tingle at the end of Steven Tyler was good,” and “You can’t convince me that wasn’t just a clip of James Blunt… I mean wow. Absolutely incredible.”