The xx can make any song angstier than a teenager’s diary. They warped Drake and Rihanna’s island-tinged “Too Good” into a brooding cover earlier this year and cranked the heartbreak on Beyoncé’s and Frank Ocean’s 2011 ballad, “I Miss You”, up to 100. Now, they’ve turned Justin Timberlake’s “My Love” into an 80s-inspired bop.
The British trio delivered its moody interpretation of the track (lifted from JT’s classic 2006 album, FutureSex/LoveSounds) during an appearance on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge. With bits of JT’s “Lovestone” thrown in here and there, the cover sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack to a high school rom-com — softly playing right when the teenage hero longingly stares at his crush from across the dance floor.
The members of The xx love to perform covers of pop stars’ songs just as much as pop stars love to cover them. Rihanna turned their hit song, “Intro,” into a full-fledged pop anthem for her 2011 album Talk That Talk — the track’s ghostly guitar inspiring Rihanna to sing bleak lyrics like, “I’m drunk on love, nothing can sober me up.” And Shakira added her signature vibrato to “Islands,” covering the airy song during a performance at Glastonbury.
Check out The xx’s feels-heavy version of “My Love” below. Meanwhile, we’ll be crossing our fingers that the band delivers a vulnerable version of “Sexyback” next. Because, in our opinion, there’s a nugget of fragile masculinity to be found hidden in the cocky club anthem.