Ben Platt’s recent cover of Addison Rae’s Diet Pepsi has gone viral on social media.

The appeal was the song choice and change in performance style – an unexpected crossover between Platt’s musical theatre background and Rae’s bubblegum TikTok pop.

It’s just the latest in a long history of our enduring love for covers: songs that are performed or rerecorded by a different artist to the original one, often with a new twist.

Think Whitney Houston’s cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You, Jimi Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower, or Luke Coombes’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car.

Covers can give new life to the songs we know and love. In some cases, they may even surpass the original.

The concept of covers originates in the American popular music industry of the early 20th century. Before recording was accessible and affordable, the music industry was really a publishing industry, with audiences buying sheet music to play popular songs at home.

The term “cover version” came into play as recording and broadcasting took over the way audiences engaged with........

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