U2 - Beautiful Day (cover)

This is just my opinion

not that your opinion, dear average music consumer, would matter, since you mix up an orange with a contrabass bow 😒

but this cover is that magical moment when the original song can be forgotten without any bad conscience.

I have to admit here, I'm not a U2 fan, to say the least. I've never liked them and never understood the hype around them in the 90's and from earlier. I had always wondered what made people get hooked on their music that much, but somehow I could never figure it out. For my ears their music lacked that certain spirit, that little pinch of spice that would have made them special. I remember how people around me literally worshipped Bono - I know some will not like me after this, but for me Bono has always been a rather annoying figure, regardless of his (alleged) poetry in U2's lyrics. But regardless of what I thought - and still think - about him, U2 had a massive fanbase at a time and probably they still have a lot of fans and/or people they made a huge impression on with their music. Well, we are not the same, right?

I remember the guessing game of this cover. It was on New Year's Eve in 2021, and when the game started, I was doing some chores around the house, this last-minute end-of-the-year kind. And while I was down to my elbows in the dishwashing sink with a bunch of plates that were waiting to be cleaned, I tried to find out what cover Cygnus gifted us for the last time of that year. 

It took very long, probably the longest for me. Yet it was definitely one of the most hilarious guessing games, with hysterical laughter - that kind when you scream -, shedding tears, saying the stupidest jokes and finally what made me laugh especially hard is when I could finally find out the band, I realized, I didn't come up with them because it seemed way too obvious and I thought it just couldn't be. Well... it could :) and this is one of the many unexpected little beauties this band has got and which they keep us, fans, continuously wet all over on our tiptoes with.

I love this cover. And I would swear on anything that it was by default, originally arranged and written for Deneb's voice and not for Bono's. Even if at that point nobody had known it.

The intro itself already is deeper, more haunting and more flavorful than the original. Blu easily brings this very typical, distorted sound of literally every goddamn U2 song that has ever been released

one of the many things that drove me to a banshee level of screaming at U2's peak was this very typical guitar - or who knows what kind of instrument - sound that was told to be a trademark for their music, but it just brought the worst out of me

and if my ears are not wrong, this is by default a great and very creative thing Cygnus added to this cover.

I keep listening to the original and upon what my ears tell me, this distorted sound in U2's release (at least in the intro) comes from a keyboard - while Blu is playing it on his guitar and the keyboardist Reny just adds some harmonies to it. Cygnus actually had the balls to give it a rock sound

that kind when bearded, gorgeous, manly Latinos decide to boss up something, for the world's benefit

and this is the best thing that could happen to this song.

Or rather one of the best things, as there are many more, because then Deneb starts to sing.

This is one of his best performances, ever. (Yes, among many others, like this or this or this, not to mention this, but it is still one of the most memorable moments of him.) Here, dear Reader, you can taste all the wide spectrum of the myriad of flavors his voice can ever offer. Get ready. Get ready for this velvety, rich baritone to hug you and put a soft, warm blanket on you. Get ready to taste it, that it's like a sip of thick, steaming hot chocolate with cinnamon, gloves and orange on a freezing, sad winter night. Get ready that it will touch your heart with its gentle hands. And for the whole time Blu keeps playing these tunes, that made you scream and wanting to jump off a 10-storey-block back then, but strangely, oddly, these tunes find their place now. Ruxx is singing the backing vocals.

The chorus is very powerful. Much more powerful than the original's (for me) slightly shoegazing, bit enervated energy. These wonderful Colombians just took this (again for me) cold-as-a-dead-fish song and probably dunked it into that secret radioactive material they keep in the depths of their studio and gave it a new life. Full of spirit, full of passion, but still keeping up the song's original introspective, delicate atmosphere.

Have I mentioned how very versatile and talented they are?...

For the second stanza the bass arrives as well. It joins the drums, they click together and start holding the song on their shoulders, being the well-known essential of every Cygnus-song, may it be their own song or a cover. 

(see also: Cygnus Spice)

Deneb is playing with his voice. Get ready, dear Reader, because it will give you goosebumps, at the beginning. (Later tears, too.) Within a few lines he lights up countless little flavors of his baritone. From playful to his sunshine-voice, from powerful to deep and soothing, from fierce to gentle and comforting, just to spread again sunshine and fire in the next line. Keep your ears, your heart and your soul open, dear Reader. This kind of fireworks is very rare, and especially within a stanza, within just a few lines, even in between the lines. But Deneb does it. Because he is this amazing, this talented and this versatile.

The rhythm section is massive for the whole time; not radioactive

okay, just a little bit, but this song doesn't require heavy nuclear activity

but strong and reliable. Blu is flashing his skills, as much as his presence is seemingly insignificant, 

I know many of you dumbass deaf average music consumers don't even recognize it

don't say a word, I know you all 😒

he plays a major role in this cover.

Probably for this reason, but the small part before the lyrical bridge is a million times more exciting than in the original song. Deneb is singing from his heart, again showing a lot of so far unknown shades of his voice: veil-alike, soft and distant, slowly warming up and getting more and more tangible, and at the end you can take it in your hands and hold it tight.

Then the chorus returns and again get ready, dear Reader.

It will reach into your beating heart and touch it. Deneb's sunny, intense, but still gentle voice will stay there knocking at the door and it will patiently swirl around your heart until you shyly open that small door there. But for this voice that little gap is enough. It slips inside and it irresistibly surrounds you with all the flavors and shades it hasn't showed yet. A rich river of beauty, passion, sunshine, hope, love and playfulness and it will bombard you until you reach out with your hands, your eyes are full of tears and you beg it to allow you to hold it tight. And this voice will laugh and pull you tight to itself.

It will hold you. And you just fall into its strong and protective embrace.

I especially like how Ruxx made this part even richer with his kickdrums. Generally this is true for this entire cover that it's richer, more exciting, deeper and has got more heart and soul than the original. It's just my own thought and I might be wrong (definitely correct me then!), but each musician just simply added what they are the best at: Ruxx being precise and creative, Deneb totally merging with Ruxx's drums, functioning together as a clockwork, meanwhile showing a tiny piece of ALL the flavors of his voice; Blu being experienced and very skilled, and Reny adding a solid background to all the juggling of these three magicians. And from a forgettable, predictable song they made a powerhouse cover, simply by being themselves.

Have I told you how very much I love them?

The outro is again strong, stronger than the original's. Clearer, more powerful, more manly, more playful, more passionate. (Thank it to Blu, who just laughs into your face as it fades out.)

Take it, dear Reader. Listen to it, watch it as many times as you want. Let the magic happen to you. Just open your heart, even if just the small backdoor. It will sneak in and does its magic. All you will comprehend is that you want more of it, you want to listen to it again and again, you can't get enough of it.

Just let yourself be. Let the magic happen, let these magicians happen to you.