For the past few years Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche has been sharing covers of his favorite songs of the year with Stereogum. While his previous selections — like Animal Collective’s “Bluish” and Owen Pallett’s “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt” — have skewed more indie, this year his song of choice is a bit more surprising: Beyoncé’s “Countdown.”
“Obviously, a significant part of this song’s appeal and ecstatic energy comes from the dizzying vocal performance and the mind-blowingly cool production work — elements and talents useless to even attempt replicating (especially not in my father in-law’s basement),” he writes. “But as long as there’s a song underneath, there’s a way.” Listen to his paired down version of “Countdown” here, and let us know what you think in the comments.