English musician YUNGBLUD has offered up one of the most unexpected crossovers of the year, mashing up his new single “Weird!” with The Chats’ viral 2017 hit “Smoko”.
Sharing the intriguing performance on YouTube overnight, the video is prefaced by a Zoom call which sees the Yorkshire artist requesting the blessing of The Chats’ Eamon Sandwith to cover the track.
“I’d feel like, sacrilegious if I didn’t get your, like, blessing,” YUNGBLUD admits. “Nah, go for it mate,” responds Sandwith, who celebrated his 21st birthday a matter of days ago. “I’d love to hear it.”
The ensuing performance sees YUNGBLUD joined by a mask-laden, four-piece backing band as he kicks things off with his most recent single, “Weird!”. A minute in, he changes pace, delivering the wordy intro to The Chats’ “Smoko”, which soon sees the viral piece of Australiana turned into an unexpectedly soulful piece of indie rock.
“The Chats are Aussie fookin royalty,” YUNGBLUD explained in a statement released alongside the track. “I love them, I love Australia and I can’t wait to play it live!”
This isn’t the first time that The Chats’ breakout hit has received high-profile attention for international musicians either. While Miguel briefly covered the track on a since-deleted Instagram video in early 2019, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme professed his love of the track during a conversation with Zane Lowe in 2018.
“They have an utterly Australian song called ‘Smoko’,” Homme explained. “I saw it, and Dave Grohl turned it on to me, and then the next thing I know I’m playing it for Iggy [Pop]. And I told them that and their jaws were just like completely open.”
The Chats released their debut album, High Risk Behaviour back in April, while YUNGBLUD had previously hinted his new album is set to arrive later in 2020.
