By: Maria Ciezak
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Not into the punk-rap rage of Travie McCoy? Don’t like what you hear having commercial success these days? I can’t hate. Here is a different version. A friend sent me this video, and I am still uncertain how I feel, so I am opening it up to the BTB devotees to review.

A Rocket to the Moon covers Billionaire in a very dissimilar way. I am not too sure how I feel about it, for it sounds like a wholly different song. The boys are on this year’s annual punk rock extravaganza Warped Tour, which leads to success for many artists like themselves. I’m into covers but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I respect its exclusivity, and see how it would draw a whole fresh crowd into the song, I just don’t feel as if the boy’s got the chops of Bruno Mars. Cover or no cover, vocalists need to know their own limits; master before you pay tribute.

Let’s break it down; music is a discussion, with artists dialoguing by way of lyrics and themes. Which means a cover is the most straight and attractive form of communication. It provides artists like Rocket to the Moon with the likelihood not only to pay respect to their influences (in this case, label-mate Travie McCoy), but also to insert or take away significance from the original version as they see fit. Long story not too short: remakes either want to make the reviewer turn the dial, or cringe when it’s an otherwise fine artist making a mistake. This private pop acoustic version could go in either direction. I dig change, but for some reason, I can’t find the prize thing that was buried.

Numerous people have commented on the video calling it “better than the original” and “a fantastic remake” — do you agree? Let’s not get it twisted, A Rocket to the Moon is signed under Fueled By Ramen, which is leisurely building one of the utmost empires in the mainstream powerpop trade, including artists such as Paramore and Fall Out Boy. With an exceedingly stacked line up, it’s almost a sure thing whenever they sign an up-to-the-minute artist (for every time we close our eyes, we see their names in shining lights).

These boys have the potential to have huge success, so why bask in the fruit of another? Billionaire isn’t the greatest song in the world, but it’s rap-pop revelry style makes it unique, not really sounding much like other things out right now. I’m just saying, once a shoe is shined, it’s senseless to run through the mud.

What do you think of the cover? Does this rocket have the potential to soar to the moon, or does the band just want to be billionaires, so freakin’ bad?

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