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All month, we’ve been enjoying the steady release of cover songs from Lady Gaga’s forthcoming tenth anniversary edition of her sophomore album, Born This Way. The latest to drop is Years & Years’ “reimagined” version of “The Edge of Glory,” and it is, in a word, glorious!
Where Gaga’s hard charging original nodded to a bygone era of sax-heavy Top 40 tunes — late E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons played on the track — Years frontman Olly Alexander’s version gestures heavily toward the glittery Euro-pop techno of Erasure and Pet Shop Boys. You can also hear echoes of Limahl’s deliriously chintzy “Never Ending Story” in the track’s tinkling flourishes, firmly establishing its ’80s bona fides.
“when @ladygaga asked me to remake her iconic track Edge Of Glory for born this way reimagined i said YES MOTHER and my paws flew into the atmosphere,” Alexander, who is now the sole member of Years & Years following the departure of bandmates Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen in March, wrote on the band’s official Twitter account. “i’m so happy i got to be a part of this, i hope you enjoy this version”
when @ladygaga asked me to remake her iconic track Edge Of Glory for born this way reimagined i said YES MOTHER and my paws flew into the atmosphere. i’m so happy i got to be a part of this, i hope you enjoy this version 💕✨📐🔥https://t.co/weRlaFIWit pic.twitter.com/h16SAYCTXS
— Years & Years is 🌟STARSTRUCK🌟 (@yearsandyears) June 22, 2021
“Edge of Glory” is the latest in a series of six covers to be featured on the special edition of Born This Way, due out on June 25. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of her landmark second album, Gaga enlisted a who’s-who of queer and ally artists to “re-imagine” songs from the album. Years & Years’ track follows Big Freedia’s bounced-up “Judas,” Orville Peck’s countrified—and lyrically revised—“Born This Way” and Kylie Minogue’s disco-infused “Marry the Night.” With two more tracks yet to be released, we can’t wait to see who’s going to try their hands at “Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)” and the bluesy “Yoü and I.”
