T-Pain will cover Frank Sinatra and Sam Cooke on new album

Chris Malone Méndez
·2 min read
T-Pain
T-Pain
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It’s not every day you hear “T-Pain” and “Frank Sinatra” in the same sentence. But, the “Masked Singer” winner is gearing up to take on some classic songs in a new album consisting entirely of covers, including tunes from the beloved “New York, New York” vocalist. 

T-Pain announced the release of his new LP On Top of the Covers on social media Wednesday (Feb. 15). The project consists of non-auto-tuned versions of songs such as Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” The Tallahassee, Florida native is no stranger to non-hip hop songs, covering hits like Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock N Roll” on “The Masked Singer.” 

On Top of the Covers arrives four years after the “Buy U a Drank” singer’s sixth studio album 1UP, which contained features from fellow “Masked Singer” contestant Lil Wayne, O.T. Genasis, and more. And unlike many projects released in the past year, the cover LP first started coming together before the pandemic. 

“This covers album has been years in the making,” the Grammy winner said in a statement. “I started recording this right after I won ‘The Masked Singer’ [in 2019]. It got put on hold for a bit but now that I’m independent, I’m able to do whatever I want to do through Nappy Boy Entertainment and this is something I’ve felt strongly about for a long time.”

“These songs are not what you’d expect when you hear that T-Pain is doing a covers album and that is what I think is cool about it,” he added. He’s not wrong. For years, T-Pain was synonymous with auto-tune, and is often credited with its popularization in the late 2000s. His use of auto-tune earned the criticism of Usher, who told the “I’m Sprung” singer that he “f**ked up music.”

On Top of the Covers‘ release will be accompanied by two intimate shows at West Hollywood’s The Sun Rose on March 17 and 18. The setlist will be centered around the new covers, but will also feature some of T-Pain’s biggest hits from over the years.

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