IN THE SHOCK: Moonlight, here during a performance on the Swedish TV show “Lotta på Liseberg” last Sunday. From left: Victoria De Angelis, Damiano David and Thomas Raggi. Photo: Tommy Holl / TT NEWS AGENCY
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“Beggin ‘” is given new life 14 years later – and many believe it is a Madcon cover. On Italian, the Italians are criticized for their version.
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Just over a month after winning the Eurovision Song Contest, the quartet Måneskin already has a third huge hit going on – after the winning song “Zitti E Buoni” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave”.
Aided by TikTok exposure, Måneskin’s version of “Beggin ‘” is at the time of writing the fifth most popular on Spotify’s global list, with almost five million plays a day.
However, there is confusion about the origin of the song.
“Cover of Madcon”
Many people seem to think that the original is the version the Norwegian rap duo Madcon conquered the world with in 2007.
Among these is the British music newspaper NME, who writes about “the band’s cover of the Madcon song” in a case that the Moonlight version on Friday night jumped from 73rd to tenth place on the official British hit list.
On YouTube is a clip of Måneskin’s appearance on Italian “X Factor” marked as “Måneskin cover of Madcon’s version”.
—-HOT WITH HIT: Madcon in 2007. From left: Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Tshawe Baqwa. Photo: Krister Sørbø
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On Twitter, many argue that Madcon’s version is preferable to Moon Skins.
– Why does the Moonlight version of “Beggin ‘” go viral when the Madcon version is so much better, writes one user.
– If you know “Beggin ‘” with Moonlight and not Madcon, you should not be in contact with me, it sounds from another.
Many think it is too bad that the audience does not know about Madcon’s “original”:
– Why can you not appreciate the original, wonders a user who refers to Madcon.
– To see teenagers who like Måneskin not know that “Beggin ‘” is a cover … do not show disrespect to Madcon in that way, reports another.
But “Beggin ‘” was already 40 years old when Tshawe Baqwa and Yosef Wolde-Mariam released their version.
It was American Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons who first released “Beggin ‘”. A moderate hit by the band’s standard; they had five songs that reached number one in the US, while “Beggin ‘” went to number 16.
Madcon’s 2007 edition did not come out of the blue either.
Earlier that year, the French DJ Pilooski breathed life into “Beggin ‘” in the form of a remix that became a club hit in the UK.
The Madcon version was a recording with new instrumentation and vocals, while Pilooski’s remix only used elements from the Valli recording.
Second largest in Europe
“Beggin ‘” made international pop stars of Madcon. At its most popular, the song was the second best-selling in all of Europe, with first place in France, fifth place in the UK and seventh place in Germany among the merits.
It also reached the American hit list, Billboard Hot 100, in 79th place – a rare feat for Norwegian artists at the time.
Power metal from Spotify can serve as an explanation for why many people think “Beggin ‘” is a Madcon song.
At the time of writing, their version has 183 million plays. The Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons original has 14 million.
Moonlight so far has 70 million on its “Beggin ‘” – but that is changing rapidly.
So far, it has reached the Top 5 on the official charts in ten European countries, including first place in Germany.
In Norway, it went straight into seventh place on Friday VG-list, where the band has also taken second and sixth place.
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