T-Pain Covers Frank Sinatra, Journey, and More On New Album

T-Pain rose to prominence in the 2000s with hit singles like “I’m Sprung” and “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’).” His name soon became synonymous with Auto-Tune, which earned criticism from the likes of Usher, who told the Grammy-winning singer that he “f***ed up music.”

In February 2019, T-Pain proved he could shine without the help of Auto-Tune by snatching the crown on the first season of The Masked Singer. He released his sixth studio album 1UP the same day. Today, four years and a global pandemic later, the “Bartender” singer is back with a new project. But rather than release new material, T-Pain gives his take on a wide variety of classic songs on On Top of the Covers, a seven-track collection of classic songs performed by the Tallahassee-bred singer.

“This covers album has been years in the making,” the Grammy winner said in a statement. “I started recording this right after I won The Masked Singer [in 2019]. It got put on hold for a bit but now that I’m independent, I’m able to do whatever I want to do through Nappy Boy Entertainment and this is something I’ve felt strongly about for a long time. These songs are not what you’d expect when you hear that T-Pain is doing a covers album and that is what I think is cool about it.”

On Top of the Covers contains a wide array of songs originally released throughout the past several decades. Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show’s “Sharing the Night Together,” Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” are all featured on the project. In addition, T-Pain threw in an original track of his own, “Skrangs (in K Major Sus).”

“Each one of these songs means something to me and helped me fall in love with music at different points in my life,” the crooner shared on Twitter of his approach to recording. “I’m releasing this cover album from the view of what I hear when I listen to each song.”