David Bowie Cover of the Week: Korantemaa covers “The Man Who Sold the World”

The funny thing is, as I sat down to select a cover to feature this week I was thinking about how, “The Man Who Sold the World” is just behind “‘Heroes’” and “Space Oddity” in terms of how frequently it is covered, and that performers often identify it as a Bowie/Nirvana song. Its frequency as a cover knocks points off in my mind, and misidentifying it as a Nirvana song is an immediate disqualifier.

So, it was with some trepidation that I clicked on this video by Swedish singer Korantemaa. Fortunately, she doesn’t label the song as a Nirvana cover, so that got me through the gate, but I wasn’t expecting to highlight yet another cover of this song…that is until I heard Korantemaa’s voice. I think I’d be happy listening to her recite IRS tax codes about depreciation schedules for farm equipment…in Swedish. Fortunately, in this case we get to hear her sing a Bowie song! (And by the way, her guitar work is superb as well).

According to a variety of online sources, Korantemaa, whose real name is Johanna Karlsson, began uploading song covers to YouTube at the age of 12, quickly building a global following with her raw and emotionally resonant music. By 19, her channel had surpassed 25 million views, leading her to focus on original compositions, culminating in the release of her debut EP, A Place of Substance. Incorporating elements like jazzy piano and experimental vocal effects, her music explores themes of identity and self-acceptance. Growing up in a small village in southern Sweden, Korantemaa’s work reflects her unique perspective and creative spirit. She was identified by Nylon magazine as one of the 18 Most Exciting New Acts in Music in 2000 (click the bolded title to link to that article).

Despite her large following, Korantemaa is new to me, so I’m characterizing what I read about her music exploring identity and self-acceptance. If that’s accurate, this is a peculiar song to cover. Its famously opaque lyrics seem less about self-acceptance than about an alienated disconnection from identity itself. “I wasn’t there… I must have died alone… Who knows? Not me” are not words of someone grounded in a sense of authenticity.

As demonstrated by its frequent misattribution to Nirvana, the song itself has taken on its own thematic quality of obscured identity. It didn’t get much attention when Bowie released it in 1970, but was infused with new life by two covers—Lulu’s in 1974 and Nirvana’s in 1993. I’ve read Bowie (apparently) joking about younger fans complimenting him on covering Nirvana, however, at the same time, it was after that cover brought renewed prominence to the song that Bowie himself worked it back into his repertoire. The 2020 movie Stardust, which was at an enormous disadvantage in being a movie about Bowie that couldn’t get the rights to use Bowie’s music, banked on the audience being only vaguely familiar with the song’s actual lyrics; at one point a character supposedly quoted from it while actually reciting lyrics to the 1899 poem “Antigonish” (from which Bowie’s song was partially inspired). Far from being authentic, the song, like the lyrics, and like the characters beginning to emerge from Bowie, is a tangle of misdirection and artifice. That said, there’s a reason it is so frequently covered—it sounds good.

Korantemaa continues in the tradition of making this song sound good. At bottom, I just liked listening to her sing it, which is why I selected it as Cover of the Week.

HERE is another feature on Korantemaa from the British publication, Notion.