Otep Shamaya Talks Lorde And Why She Covered Royals Listen To The Heavy Metal Version

You might be surprised to discover just how much heavy metal singer Otep and Lorde have in common. They share the same birthday, albeit 17-years-apart, are both feminists, and grew up working class. That might be why Lorde’s “Royals” was the perfect song for Otep to cover. Currently, on tour in Europe, Otep is riding high on the success of her eighth studio album Kult 45.

The album is an “in-your-face” hardline criticism of Donald Trump’s presidency and has resonated with those who are against Trump’s administration.

Otep Shamaya spoke to Brittney Patton in an exclusive interview where Otep delved into her reasons for covering “Royals.”

She said that she admires Lorde and that as someone who grew up working-class poor, she felt that Lorde wrote her truth and it was a truth she could relate to. Otep also said she was amazed that Lorde had found her truth and voice at the age of fifteen. Otep expressed how much she connected with Lorde’s lyrics in “Royals” and fans have praised Otep’s hard-hitting cover.

Otep Shamaya stated the following.

“The fact that she was fifteen when she wrote “Royals,” was just like- you know-blew me away. Because I felt the same way, I wrote a lot of poetry about it, but I never wrote a song about it.  You know, and she did. So, I thought that was pretty marvelous. And she deserves all the success and credit that she gets for being such a remarkable artist.”

Check out the interview in the video player below.

Otep burst on the music scene in a fast and powerful way. She started the band and after just a few gigs was spotted by Sharon Osbourne who added her to the 2001 Ozzfest line-up. She’s established her place as one of the most powerful heavy and death metal female (and male) voices and has used her public platform to bring awareness to causes others might ignore.

You can listen to Otep’s heavy-metal cover of Royals in the video player below.

Otep spends February in Europe on a fully-booked tour and continues to perform songs from Kult 45 as well as some of the band’s older tunes.

She’s been outspoken about many current events ranging from Trump’s policies that impact the LGBTQ community, immigration, racism, bigotry and animal rights.

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Have you heard Otep’s cover of Lorde’s Royals? What do you think?

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