Was not sponsored or asked by MTV to write about this, just sharing my experience! :)
A little more than a year ago, I came across this contest held by MTV called MTV Cover of the Month. Basically, they announce a new song every month and contestants upload their own covers of the song to the site. The contest lasts for an entire year, and MTV chooses one winner every month, hence the name Cover of the Month. The winners of each month gets a trophy and gets their entry aired on MTV networks around world.
Having been making cover songs and videos on YouTube for a while now, this was right up my alley! At the time, my friend Nikita and I was already working on some music together and brainstorming for a new video. So when I came across the contest I thought we might as well give it a go!
We decided to enter the February contest, and the song happened to be Paris by The Chainsmokers. There’s roughly a hundred submissions every month, many whom are already established musicians or big YouTubers, so honestly, we had no intentions of winning. Nonetheless, we tried our best.
PS. All the songs given are recent mainstream pop songs (I mean, it’s MTV), so if you’re someone who’s not into pop music, I’d advise you to stay far far away from this contest. 😂
Music-wise, we decided to keep the cover simple, while giving the video a creative twist. If you’ve ever seen my past videos, you can tell I’m into one-takes and looping videos, so we decided to go that route for this video as well. We filmed the video in a couple hours, uploaded it, and forgot about it.
Once again, huge props to @joelbastian for his glidecam work! His left arm always double in size after filming a one-taker.
Fast forward a month later, we receive an email from MTV saying we won!
SWEEEEET!!!!
I honestly still have no idea why and how we were chosen over all the other submissions…but I’m not complaining!
We got our trophy a few months later, and as for the video airing on TV, we have no idea when or in what country it aired in. So, if anyone around the world has seen it air on MTV please let us know! (but who watches MTV nowadays anyways?)
Just as we thought that was it, we receive another email a couple months later inviting all the monthly winners to London, UK for a end of the year event. All expenses paid for three nights.
Not bad for a video we made in just a few hours!! 🤔🤔
The event took place in November, the same weekend that the EMAs took place!
So after our long a$$ flight, we arrived in London!
Real Big Ben is under construction for 4 years...so Lego Big Ben will suffice 🙄
We stayed here.
Went here.
Watched these guys. #U2
and attended this!
Overall, an amazing m-f-ing experience.
I've no clue if MTV will hold a season two, but to any musicians or singers out there making covers, I'd highly recommend looking out for it! Have fun with it and be creative. Who knows!? Maybe you'll get lucky like us!
Congratulations!
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Cool story and I love your video. That's a great cover.
Glad you liked it!! :)
Easy, because they have great talent and that's what MTV is looking for. I love your video, you are a great artist :) <3
Thanks @cristo! Means a lot!!
That's so cool. Things like this motivate you. Wish you luck for your career.
no love for the video guy?? whaaaaaaa...
....up....voted..
@joelbastian *edited