Biffy Clyro recently stopped by BBC‘s Live Lounge (basically the UK’s answer to triple j ‘Like A Version’) and ambitiously had a crack at covering Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s viral megahit, ‘WAP’.
Renaming the song to ‘WAB’, which stands for… wait for it… “Wet As Biffy”, the band gave the chart-smashing rap track a rock makeover, but the reaction online has been a bit of a mixed bag (to say the least):
the biffy clyro WAP cover has just put scottish independence back by at least a decade
— beth (@urpalbeth) September 3, 2020
It was both brilliant and terrible at the same time but I loved it
— Tumsh (@tumsh1992) September 3, 2020
Probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard on radio 1 and that’s saying a lot.
— Lewsun (@onion_hagi) September 3, 2020
In today’s episode of things I didn’t know I needed but couldn’t imagine my life without… everyone needs some wet ass biffyI’m dead hahahahaha
— Becka Biffy (@BeckaBiffySimm) September 3, 2020
Actually found that really funny I loved it! It really brightened up my day and expected nothing more from @BiffyClyro they are always willing to try new things and go abit crazy love them boys thanks for always cheering me up! #theressomebiffinthishouse
— Annemarie Flanagan (@amflanagan27) September 3, 2020
this is the most-unexpected thing i’ve seen since corona… too funny to make sense honestly, but i can’t take my eyes off it
— alba (@daldis_) September 3, 2020
the fact that people can’t even mess around and have fun with covers now is so sad! they took the song and made it there own as a way of HAVING FUN! let people express themselves however they want, fair enough having an opinion but some people are just mean x
— elsie:) (@els3white) September 3, 2020
However, despite many fans appreciating a certain spirit of fun about Biffy’s bizzaro cover, others called them out for co-opting a musical moment belonging to two Black women:
https://twitter.com/ADHGeorgia/status/1301528602555699200
white men pls stay away from doing things like this
— Mark D Gelo (@Scruboa) September 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/_jggg/status/1301518930465480706
It comes after ‘WAP’ — an OTT celebration of female sexuality — made ARIA chart history, becoming the first female-led hip-hop song to top the chart in a staggering 28 years (the last female-led hip-hop song to do it was Salt-N-Pepa’s ‘Let’s Talk About Sex’ all the way back in 1992) and the first all-female hip-hop collaborative track to ever top the ARIA Singles Chart.
The song has also received a number of cursed mash-ups recently, being smashed together with the likes of Nickelback, the Hannah Montana theme song and even our own Gang Of Youths.
Watch Biffy Clyro’s cover version below and see what you reckon for yourself.
Meanwhile, Biffy are set to tour Australia in January of 2021 in support of their new album A Celebration Of Endings, but no word yet on whether that will still be going ahead.
https://youtu.be/K5ghS8JJPpU
