Although her Australian tour only has four remaining dates - February 23-26, all of which are at Accor Stadium. Sydney - Taylor Swift's presence was already being felt long before she arrived to kick off her tour in Melbourne on February 16, thanks to Triple M. The radio network teamed up with a number of Australian artists, asking them to cover some of Swift's songs in advance of her arrival.
The Screaming Jets and Paul Kelly are just two of the artists contributing their "Triple M Versions" of Taylor Swift songs
Triple M began rolling out the covers on February 5 with legendary singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s version of “Anti-Hero.” From there, listeners got a new cover every weekend through Valentine’s Day, with the list of contributions featuring songs from the Screaming Jets (“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”), Sarah McLeod (“Wildest Dreams”), Diesel (“This is Me Trying”), Ian Moss (“Style”), Birds of Tokyo (“Blank Space”), British India (“You’re on Your Own, Kid”), and Joe Camilleri with Melbourne Ska Orchestra (“I Knew You Were Trouble”).
“Taking on the challenge of covering Taylor Swift’s banger ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ and fusing it with the sound of the Screaming Jets was a blast,” said Dave Gleeson, lead singer of the Screaming Jets and host of Triple M Nights, in a Radio Today piece. “Reimagining this song for Triple M was an unexpected start to 2024, but the outcome is something that our Triple M listeners can 100% get on board with.”
“The Triple M Versions are an outstanding collaboration of some of Australia’s best rock artists with some of the world’s most popular songs, resulting in something completely unique to Triple M and Australia," said Matthew O'Reilly, head of Triple M Metro Content in the same Radio Today piece. "We are pumped to present these never-before-heard covers and join the celebrations of the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s iconic tour.”
Mind you, these aren’t the only Australians to offer up covers of Swift’s songs in recent memory. Triple J, part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has their own recurring series of cover songs, this one cleverly called “Like a Version.” Four months ago, Pendulum also took on the challenge of tackling “Anti-Hero,” whereas it was only a month ago that G Flip completely rocked the house with their version of “Cruel Summer.”
When Swift herself took to social media and “liked” the latter cover, G Flip admitted that it was the most important “like” of their career.
“I think it’s pretty funny that somebody double-tapping on a little screen has led me to be on the news right now,” G Flip told The Project. “But I idolize Taylor, I think she’s the artist of our generation and the best songwriter and such an amazing business woman. And if it was her – it could’ve been someone from her team, I don’t know! – I did that cover and I thought I was going to get so much hate, so I’ve been on cloud nine ever since.”
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