It's impossible not to feel the passion behind Susan Boyle's voice.
Susan Boyle channeling Joni Mitchell is everything fans could want.
Released as part of her third studio album, Someone to Watch Over Me, the Got Talent icon's take on Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now" treats fans to a side of her we rarely see. While the star made her mark on the music industry thanks to unforgettable vocal performances of soaring Broadway hits and angelic Christian hymns, this cover proves Boyle is infinitely versatile and capable of taking popular music to new heights.
As always, Boyle's flawless vocals take center stage on this cover — and the song takes on an almost spiritual quality when she sings it.
Accompanied by a simple piano and some light atmospheric effects in the background, Boyle really shines in the song's back half when she hits some seriously high notes with all the passion fans have come to expect from the 64-year-old, who left her now longtime friend Simon Cowell stunned when she first auditioned for Britain's Got Talent in 2009.
Boyle throws in some well-timed vocal flairs throughout the song, with her powerful vibrato especially shining.
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Every song recorded for Someone to Watch Over Me has a spiritual significance to the star, as Boyle revealed in a 2011 interview with RTÉ TEN.
"There are certain songs that I liked that resonated with the letters that people had written and sent to me," Boyle explained. "I knew that's what my record needed to be about. They wrote about grief, love, happy and sad times, it was all deeply moving and the songs mirror the emotion and life experience."
Here's what to know about "Both Sides, Now"
Originally recorded by Joni Mitchell in 1969 as a single from her studio album Clouds, "Both Sides, Now" is technically a cover of an original by Judy Collins, which was released one year earlier.
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In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the track at 171 in their ranking of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
According to the outlet, Mitchell described the song as "a meditation on reality and fantasy… The idea was so big it seemed like I'd just scratched the surface of it."
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In January 2022, The Voice's Kelly Clarkson memorably performed an acoustic version of "Both Sides, Now" as part of a Kellyoke segment on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
