May's Hamildrop: "Helpless" by The Regrettes
Hamildrops is a yearlong project that Hamilton’s musical creator Lin Manuel Miranda will be doing every month in 2018. On the last day of each month, fans will be able to listen to a cover from the show or another song that Miranda wrote.
Related: Newest Hamildrops 'First Burn' has been released
The Regrettes is made up of lead singer Lydia Night, Genessa Gariano on guitar, Sage Nicole on bass and drummer Maxx Morando. The group has opened for Kate Nash, Jack Off Jill, Bleached, Pins, Deep Vally and more.
The opening guitar riff tells you that this will be a new style for this song originally from Hamilton the musical. Night brings a new take on the character of Eliza with her vocals, which is a rock style, with a touch of an alternative sound. She definitely has the vocal range and the vocal power for the song, making it sound rawer than it usually does because she has emotion with some grit added to her voice.
The second half of the song is a lot like the first half with Night singing in the lead with her unique tone, adding a new layer to the sound that you know if you have heard the original song. The difference between the original and this cover is the band; in the second half, they play a punk interlude. One of my favorite things happens at the end of this cover when Night does a riff that you would not expect, but it adds a Broadway-like tone to the end of the number.
Overall, I really enjoyed this rendition, and although I had never heard of this band before, I did like what they did with this tune. They added their own punk rock sound to the number making it unique to this band’s style.
What do you think of this cover? Let us know below!