Girls Cover "I Will Always Love You"; Nice Alternative to Jennifer Hudson's Rendition

Every creature with warm blood in its veins got choked up watching Jennifer Hudson sing "I Will Always Love You" last night at the Grammys. We saw a dog crying, seriously. Although we here at County Grind would have preferred to hear Mariah, Christina, or even the diva who penned...

By Liz Tracy

February 13, 2012

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Every creature with warm blood in its veins got choked up watching Jennifer Hudson sing "I Will Always Love You" last night at the Grammys. We saw a dog crying, seriously. Although we here at County Grind would have preferred to hear Mariah, Christina, or even the diva who penned the song, Ms. Parton, belt that baby out, we couldn't hate on Hudson's efforts to interpret such a goddess as Whitney.

To gain a totally different perspective on the tune, watch Christopher Owens of one of our guiltiest pleasures, Girls, perform an equally stirring rendition of the best thing about The Bodyguard (via Stereogum). His version, like Hudson's, isn't as ambitious as Houston's, but it manages to be seriously sad.

Owens performed the song this weekend at the Singapore edition of the Laneway Festival. He encouraged the audience to sing along and, at one point, became very emotional. The only thing more awesome than a guy crying while singing Whitney Houston is another guy yelling out "I love you, Whitney!" while he's singing it (1:13). At the same time, there's nothing less awesome than yelling out "Don't cry!" during the song that is making everyone cry. Let the man mourn, for God's sakes.

Enjoy this. You really will.

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Liz has her master’s degree in religion from Florida State University. She has since written for publications and outlets such as Miami New Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Ocean Drive, the Huffington Post, NBC Miami, Time Out Miami, Insomniac, the Daily Dot, and the Atlantic. Liz spent three years as New Times Broward-Palm Beach’s music editor, was the weekend news editor at Inverse, and is currently the managing editor at Tom Tom Magazine.

Contact: Liz Tracy

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Twitter: @theliz4eva