For a long while now, I made a concerted effort to not make Audioeclectica a music site that doesn’t focus on negativity. Since this is a labor of love first off, there’s no need for me to put out things that I don’t enjoy. That being said, there’s past couple days I’ve been shaking my head at the recent release by Chad Gray of Mudvayne and HellYeah. He released a solo song, a cover of “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera. On one hand it’s nice to see a “metal” person stretch their wings on a song you wouldn’t think about. Then on the other it’s just a total head scratcher.

Today’s world is all about empowering yourself and others. And I get the message of the song. We all go through the trials and tribulations of life but, this is one of those instances where it shouldn’t be released. Recording it for fun as a thing for yourself is one thing. This is just a total swing and a miss. Chad’s voice is gone. It has been for a long time. You can literally hear all the layers of auto tuned vocals. I’m surprised Marcus Rafferty isn’t singing on this like he does for Chad during live shows. The song arrangement is decent but, not very intriguing. It’s super polished, edited and over produced. It’s just all a what is this moment.

I’m all for expression, experimentation and creativity but, this was just an all around bad idea. Some things are just better left being kept in a vault, and this is one of them.

Chad Gray (Christina Aguilera)- Beautiful:

Beautiful In Mean Girls (A Fun Cover):