Welcome to the second season of Mashup Mondays, the weekly video series where we have an artist of one genre cover a totally unexpected song from another genre. Last year, we had a lot of fun with the likes of Sara Bareilles taking on Beyonce and Matisyahu beatboxing Kings Of Leon, so we knew we had to bring our A-game for the kickoff of 2011. To that end we enlisted tween piano phenom Greyson Chance to tackle no less than Alicia Keys and Jay-Z‘s New York megahit, “Empire State of Mind” in his dramatic classical-meets-vocal style.
“I picked ‘Empire State Of Mind’ because it’s obviously out of my element,” the 13-year-old Oklahoma native says of the 2009 ode to the Big Apple that spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. “It’s an R&B song, Jay-Z is rapping on it. I heard it right when it came out and I fell in love with it.”
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Photos: Greyson Chance’s Mashup Behind-The-Scenes
Chance, who came into the public spotlight after his talent show version of Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” went viral and Ellen DeGeneres took him under her wing, embarked on a huge tour with Miranda Cosgrove back in January. With an album on DeGeneres’ eleveneleven label due this year, no one is likely to soon forget why he earned a top 10 spot on our 21 Under 21 list.
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