Covering a beloved song is always risky business. Covering a song as iconic as “LAID” by James feels even riskier, especially when the original already occupies such a specific emotional corner of 90’s history. However, the Manchester artists Tom Wills and Sholz-Y don’t merely remake the track, they’ve completely reimagined and transformed it into a sweat-soaked dance-pop anthem that somehow honors the spirit of the original while giving it an entirely new pulse.

Let us kick this off by saying we’re never fans of artists who faithfully cover songs with the only difference being their vocal take. What they’ve done here sounds like a brand new song paying homage to a certified classic in the best way possible. The production immediately swaps the nervous intimacy of the original for glowing synths, melodic house rhythms, and an electronic production that straight up makes you want to dance.

The story behind this choice gives the cover its real power. Tom Wills’ connection to the song runs deep, from growing up with it to seeing James perform live alongside his father. Certain lyrics land differently through his perspective. Here, they feel liberated and reframed through experience and identity rather than nostalgia alone.

Tom’s vocals are absolutely central to why this works so well. His voice cuts cleanly through the towering production with warmth and soul! There’s a sense of release in his performance that elevates the song beyond simple homage. He doesn’t imitate the original delivery or try to compete with it. Instead, he’s definitely reshaped it into something personal.

Meanwhile, Sholz-Y’s production is outstanding to say the least. The electronic work here is sleek, balancing those huge synths with enough texture to keep the song grounded. There’s genuine euphoria in the way the song builds and moves.

What makes this cover especially impressive is that it doesn’t replace the original experience. Instead, it expands it. Listening to both versions back-to-back reveals how brilliantly Tom Wills and Sholz-Y understood the DNA of the song before reconstructing it into something modern and deeply personal. The original remains a classic, but this new interpretation proves great songwriting can survive radical transformation and sometimes even gain new emotional layers through it.

At just a little over three minutes long, the track wastes no time even though the original is about 30 seconds shorter. It feels like a celebration of identity, music history, of queer spaces, and beyond. It’s not often you can literally feel the excitement coming off an artist’s voice, but it’s not difficult to imagine them in the studio having the time of their lives recording this thing. It’s so much more than a cover in our eyes, so please, click those links below to listen in and of course to follow along for hopefully so much more.

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Tom Wills & Sholz-Y reinterpret James' classic “LAID” into a euphoric anthem