Capping off a milestone year, Boygenius stopped by BBC Radio 1 for a late December performance on Dec. 18, offering up an acoustic cover of Shania Twain’s 1997 hit “You’re Still the One.”
Performed without the trio’s backing band, the stripped-down rendition featured Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus trading off lead vocals, with Julien Baker on mandolin and harmonies. Watch it below.
Though the threesome had been making waves as both solo artists and as Boygenius for years, 2023 was truly a breakout year for the supergroup. Following up on an acclaimed self-titled 2018 EP, their debut full-length, The Record, topped the UK album chart and reached No. 4 in the U.S. in the spring. The trio performed on SNL and turned in a featured set at Coachella, while a subsequent tour saw them headline both the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (with a little help from Dave Grohl) and New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Boygenius picked up seven nominations for the 2024 Grammy Awards, including in marquee categories Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for “Not Strong Enough”), as well as nominations in the rock and alternative music categories.
Lucy Dacus performs with Boygenius at the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
In November, the trio performed traditional song “The Parting Glass” with Irish duo Ye Vagabonds as part of a charitable drive for Ireland’s the Aisling Project, a Dublin after-school foundation. Though the group recorded it as a homage to the late Sinead O’Connor, who had covered the song before, the tune was also later performed by Spider Stacy just this month at the close of the funeral for Shane MacGowan, who had recorded the song with the Pogues in the 1980s.
This is not the first-time a critically-beloved, all-female indie rock trio has tackled Twain’s back-catalog for a no-frills cover: Haim went quasi-viral back in 2017 with their rendition of Twain's “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” which the group later revived in live performances.
One of the biggest-selling stars of the 1990s, Twain has seen a career resurgence of sorts since returning to music after a 15-year recording hiatus in 2017. In addition to 2023’s album Queen of Me, she’s also been the subject of the 2022 Netflix documentary Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl, as well as making a surprise appearance with Harry Styles at his 2022 Coachella headlining set.
Shania Twain joins Harry Styles onstage in 2022.
One of the key architects of the 1990s country-pop crossover, Twain has notched two US No. 1 albums, with 1997's blockbuster Come On Over certified double-diamond (indicating 20 million units sold) by the RIAA. Twain’s third Las Vegas residency — “Come On Over: All the Hits” at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino — is scheduled to kick off in May of 2024, running through December.
