Westlife - You Raise Me Up

Artist: Westlife
Album: Face to Face
Year: 2005
Rating: 2.4/5

OK, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I adore Westlife. So why did I have this a 2+ rating? Well, I absolutely hate just the idea of them singing it(although it was the very first Westlife song I heard that I knew it was them). OK, it's a nice song, it's a guaranteed hit but I want more than a cover.

I never knew Westlife could stoop as low as two out of thee singles, covers but apparently, they did. Do 'The Love Album' or 'Allow Us To Be Frank' ring a bell for you guys in the UK and Asia or fans? Yeah. They were FULL COVER albums. It's not entirely Simon(Cowell) and Louis(Walsh)'s fault, Westlife agreed to do them.

Covers. I hate them, as you can see. They don't show any creativity or originality from the artist, let alone credibility. Yes, it earns money, a lot of it but gosh, it's so, so, un-musical. These guys are talented, they can write songs, play instruments and sing but I don't think the record company realizes that. What a waste. Of course, I adored their 2007 release('Back Home', which had nine original tracks..) but I still can't forgive them for doing the covers after Brian left.

The vocals are typical Westlife. Shane with the clean, almost too clean vocals and Mark with the vocals that are all over the place(and the possible shouting..) and Nicky and Kian who just lay low and sing the choruses. 

The song is, the song. It's a cover, but the original one was nice. It's a pretty song, there's no denying it. A lot of people have covered it, I remember reading that Westlife were the 100th artist to record it so yeah. 99 unoriginal people.

All in all, I want more original Westlife songs, I don't want covers that they release for the money. I want them to write their own songs, because they can('World Of Our Own' the album is proof.). It's the company that's stopping them. Although, you can't hide the fact that they've had 45+ million records sold.