(Photo courtesy of www.hoodoola.com)
By Natalie Wheeler, Staff Writer -- wheelern12@up.edu
Jasmine van den Bogaerde, more commonly known as Birdy, had been popping up on my computer screen for weeks before I finally clicked on her YouTube rendition of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love."
I was hooked.
The 15 year old - yes, 15 - has a haunting voice that reincarnates brilliant songs with such an ethereal tone that, dare I say it, her versions are often better than the originals. (Sorry Justin Vernon, she enunciates.)
Birdy just released a self-titled album filled with those metamorphosed songs, including Fleet Foxes' "White Winter Hymnal" and Cherry Ghost's "People Help the People." She has her own songs thrown in there as well, like "Without a Word," but the goosebumps show up when she transforms a brilliantly layered song. Her cover of Ed Sheeran's "The A Team," for instance, leaves you breathless.
People might be disappointed by a debut album mostly filled with covers, but it was wise to let Birdy's singing be showcased, first and foremost. Her self-written songs are good, though nowhere near the caliber of the songs she chooses to cover - yet. She's been writing since she was eight years old and maturing by the minute.
Right now a huge part of her mystique rests on her age, but give that little Birdy some growing room. For all we know, the "Someone Like You" of 2020 could easily come from Ms. van den Bogaerde herself.
