This guy is a member of a band called Boyce Avenue, so I guess he doesn’t exactly fit in with the amateur YouTube players I’m trying to focus on this week, but this is a really good version of a really good song so I decided to include it.
It’s interesting how a straight-up pop/dance song can take on a different dimension when stripped down to its basics. Manzano isn’t even changing the melody or tempo of the song… he’s just playing it on an acoustic guitar. But it feels different.
I suppose maybe the true test of a song like this is how good it sounds with the most simple instrumentation. You can throw all kinds of production tricks at a song to make it sound interesting, but if it can hold you interest in this setting, you know you’ve got something good.
Meet Me In Montauk 
I like this rendition, but I’m a sucker for acoustic versions of almost anything. And I agree that the stripping down of a song form an instrumentation perspective is the true test of great songwriting.
Nice performance. One of the Idol hopefuls did a stripped down version of this song to get into the finals, so I guess it is an appealing option for some reason. Can’t say I love the song in this, or any other, form, but I still admire the guy’s performance.
You said you loved it a month ago! [LINK]
Fickleness, thy name is woman!
I really like both versions but I didn’t care so much for this guy’s voice. I could totally imagine someone doing this acoustic version on Idol (which I am not currently watching – don’t hate me!!). It made me think of David Cook’s Mariah Carey performance last year.
Anyway, I appreciate the song even more having heard it this way.
Thanks for the cool theme week.
Hmmm… well, I guess it was Daniel’s dancing that was having a bigger impact on me than I realized 🙂 It does sound better as performed by Rihanna than my memory did it justice.