A few days ago, Essex artist Declan J Donovan took to social media to announce the release of a surprise cover song on 24th January, just three days before his EP came out on Polydor Records. Fans had plenty of guesses as to what the song could be, and were pleasantly surprised to hear a rendition of Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’.
The singer-songwriter’s acoustic pop style goes perfectly in tune with the song, already gaining 38,00 Spotify plays. In fact, his followers liked the cover so much that he posted a video of him singing it live to Instagram, playing simple chords on a piano and singing just like his official recording.
‘Sorry’ is an excellent example of Donovan’s musical style and the first cover he has ever officially recorded. The artist used the song to promote his debut album ‘Homesick’, made up of familiar songs from his EP of the same name, singles ‘Pieces’ and ‘Vienna’, as well as two new songs. The title track was also released as an acoustic single in November 2019 and was the only song from the album to get a music video (out now on YouTube with 97,000 views).
Declan J Donovan may sound like he’s been on the music scene for a long time, but he only really began his music career in 2017 when he uploaded a song to Soundcloud which he wrote for his brother’s wedding. The song ended up earning 2 million streams on the website with no promotion and since then, he has gone on to tour with amazing artists Jake Bugg and Freya Ridings. He has also put out numerous singles; ‘Pieces’ received more than 10 million streams on all platforms.
Justin Bieber’s original recording of ‘Sorry’, co-written with Julia Michaels and other experienced industry songwriters, is from his fourth studio album ‘Purpose’, and reached number 1 on the UK Singles charts. The mainstream pop singer has yet to comment on the cover as he focuses on promoting his new single ‘Yummy’.
Donovan has recently finished a tour supporting Tom Walker, and the success is sure to continue this year as he prepares for his UK and European headline tour, even travelling to the US for two dates. Check out the UK & EU dates below and tickets on his website.
21/02/2020 – Lucerna Music Bar – Prague, Czech Republic
22/02 – Porgy & Bess – Bezirk-Innere Stadt, Austria
23/02 – Technikum – München, Germany
24/02 – Batschkapp – Frankfurt am Main, Germany
26/02 – Im Wizemann – Stuttgart, Germany
27/02 – Kulturbrauerei – Berlin, Germany
01/03 – Live Music Hall – Cologne, Germany
02/03 – Gruenspan – Hamburg, Germany
04/03/ – Camden Dingwalls – London, UK
05/03 – Louisiana – Bristol, UK
07/03 – SWG3 Poetry Club – Glasgow, UK
08/03 – Oporto – Leeds, UK
09/03 – The Hare and Hounds – Birmingham, UK
10/03 – Latest Music Bar – Brighton, UK
12/03 – Gulliver’s – Manchester, UK
23/05 – Victoria Park – Warrington, UK
11/06 – Dingwalls – London, UK
