We never imagined that we’d mention the world-famous English singers Adele or Zayn on JROCK NEWS, but Taka of ONE OK ROCK has given us an amazing reason to. The frontman decided to do vocal covers of two chart-topping hits: Adele’s Hello, and Zayn’s (ex-member of One Direction) PILLOWTALK. The artist gives a genuine performance, while showcasing the softer side of his powerful voice. Have a listen to them below:
The videos combined reached over 600,000 views and over 3000 comments their first day on the band’s YouTube channel. Most of the comments are positive, but some are negative, as to be expected. Here’s what some ONE OK ROCK fans had to say about the covers:
Hello comments
Do not care for the song in general but when Taka hits those high notes gives me chills of amazement! — Sango Kelala
RIP OOR, at least I could enjoy real good songs years ago. Now they are just… generic singing annoying songs like this and trying to be americans. Meh — chibilua1
I’m not gonna say that this is better than Adele’s version (I think it’s not fair to compare them), but this was completely beautiful! I’m so proud to be your fan :D — topi3303
PILLOWTALK comments
I honestly feel Zayn’s voice is better for this song. But really loved this version. Original seems too edited. — Edgar Abid
Wouldn’t even listen to this song if it wasn’t for Taka. Applauding him for being so versatile being able to cover Hello and this song. ? — Gale de Guia3
just team up with Girugamesh’s Ryo for these kind of covers — Tibor Rigó
Such good vocals but it’s sad to see the direction that OOR is heading towards. — MorgannaMG
We doubt his covers are a glimpse into ONE OK ROCK’s future. But we agree that he did an incredible job with them. More and more we’re seeing Japanese rock bands cover songs by Western artist. In 2014 MY FIRST STORY did a cover of Taylor Swift’s song, We Are Never Getting Back Together, then in 2015, NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST released their rendition of the song on a venue-limited single. And now Taka’s showing his interest in Western pop.
Let us know what you think of his covers in a comment below or in our live chat.
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