Every Christine and the Queens cover is an occasion. The pop auteur makes consistently great curatorial choices, and often recasts the production — and even lyrics — of songs to find new notes of emotional resonance. Last time he visited the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge by himself, Chris performed a genuinely bonkers mashup of Rihanna's "Kiss It Better" with Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" which, based on the ratio of views to likes, didn't click with everybody.
Now, Chris is back for the Radio 1 Piano Sessions, having just released a 96-minute experimental pop opera called Paranoïa, Angels, True Love. He played "A Day In The Water" from that record, plus a piano ballad rendition of Lenny Kravitz's "Again." The choice to strip down the originals' late-90's studio gloss is an inspired one. Combined with Chris' impassioned delivery, the cover reveals the bleeding heart at the song's center. Listen to both below.
