Getty Image / Jamie McCarthy / iStock / Daniil Dubov
Without looking at the numbers, I’m fairly certain I listened to the Royel Otis cover of ‘Linger‘ well over a hundred times this past weekend and that might be a low estimate.
The Australian duo whose band name is an amalgam of their names, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic, recently appeared on Triple J’s ‘Like A Version’ where bands put their own spins on iconic songs and Royel Otis played their incredible cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ which blew up after the final scene in Saltburn. That cover is also below as it’s extremely infectious and must be listened to on repeat.
A few days later, Royel Otis was in the SiriusXM studios where they put their own unique spin on ‘Linger’ by The Cranberries, a 1993 acoustic song that has stood the test of time and is one of the most popular tracks from any band out of Ireland.
Let me warn you: you will NOT be able to listen to this only once. It is extremely good, and as of now it is only available to listen to on YouTube so I wanted to write about it here so everyone could enjoy it since there’s no version of it on Spotify or Apple Music yet.
Royel Otis Cover ‘Linger’ By The Cranberries
Am I a man of my word or what? Was that not the best cover song you’ve heard of 2024? They killed that.
Now for the Royel Otis cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ which as racked up well over 20 million views on Spotify:
Royel Otis was nominated by Triple J for Australian Video of the Year in 2023 for their ‘Kool Aid’ music video. Rolling Stone Australia has nominated them in 2024 for ‘Best New Artist’ which is huge, though they have been together since 2019. But with these Royel Otis covers of ‘Linger’ and ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ exploding in addition to their original music hitting the charts the future seems bright for this duo from Sydney.