As someone obsessed with finding innovative covers of my favorite songs, I was fortunate to stumble across Alex Melton’s YouTube channel. I first became aware of Alex through his collaboration with First to Eleven in their cover of Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” a rare recent pop song that I quite enjoy. While his true talents weren’t fully on display, his vocals were good enough to intrigue me to check out his channel.
On Alex’s YouTube channel, I discovered that Alex plays all of the instruments on top of singing. While there are quite a few YouTubers that do this, few do as well as Alex does on YouTube, while also adding his own spin to them. I was immediately taken with his covers which turn popular 90’s and 2000’s songs into what if’s. He covers quite a few popular songs in a pop-punk style, such as Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”
Alex also does Y’Allternative covers where he has countrified versions of alternative radio hits, such as “Downfall of Us All” and “I Write Sins Not Tractors.” These I don’t quite as enjoy so much, but they’re good for what they are, and his performances are excellent.
In his more recent videos, he’s begun to make his covers more his own personal style, often changing the drums to half-time, which alters the entire arrangement of the song. He’s even started adding comedy sketches at the beginning and end of his covers, which are all hilarious. Alex even works in a way to mention his Patreon and Spotify page in a humorous way.
Also, his more recent Worship Band sketches are particularly fun for me to watch. They are not meant to be a disrespect in any way, but they have plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor in them. I particularly appreciate the jokes after growing up in a Baptist church.
Alex Melton’s YouTube success led to releasing a proper album in 2023, called Southern Charm. It’s a mix of pop punk and country covers, not surprising as those are his bread and butter.
My Favorite Alex Melton Songs
My favorite Alex Melton covers are when he mimics Blink 182, a series called “What If Blink 182 Wrote…” He performs this act so well the point that if you weren’t paying attention, you would think it was actually Blink 182 doing the covers. His two most popular are “Semi Charmed Life” and “Wonderwall.”
But, my favorite all-time Alex Melton song cover perhaps showcases Alex’s talent in the most succinct way possible. In this video, he performs a pop punk cover of “Fireflies” by Owl City. But, to switch things up, he plays the drums in the style of eight different bands, while also ever so slightly altering his vocal style to that of that drummer’s band’s lead singer.
It’s a brilliant cover that flows quite naturally despite the quick changes between drumlines. See how many of the drummers and bands you can guess, before he reveals them in the video; I guessed them all correctly, because I like every single one of the bands featured.
If that song isn’t really your taste, he did something very similar with a cover with The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” This is probably my second favorite Alex Melton song cover of all-time. In this cover, he not only performs the drums and vocals, but also the bass guitar and the other guitars in the background. I especially love the bit where the bass player and the drummer are having a conversation on how important the rhythm section is to the flow of a song. It’s especially hilarious since they are both Alex.
What really impresses me most about Alex’s covers is just how seamless the editing is. Initially, he did a lot of the editing by himself; more recently, he does have someone to help mix everything. He’s done live performances, too, so this is not a product of purely software whatsoever. I can’t imagine how long each of these covers actually take to record, produce, edit, and mix.
While Alex Melton is far from the only one-man band on YouTube, he’s definitely my favorite. Apparently, I’m not alone, because in the past couple of years, his channel has exploded in popularity. As of November 2024, Alex has nearly 500 thousand subscribers. That’s a decent number, even in YouTube’s ever declining ad revenue, plus his 300 patrons on Patreon.
Clearly, Melton is doing a lot right, and with how hard it is to make it on YouTube these days – it took him 10 years to get to this point – I love to see success stories like this, especially when they just keep doing their own thing and never sell out.
Who are your favorite music artists to watch on YouTube?
~ Amelia Desertsong
P.S. In January 2024, Alex put out this gem.
