Performing to a modern soundtrack
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — When the International Skating Union made the popular decision to allow lyrics in all performances, the Simon & Garfunkel classic “The Sounds of Silence” seemed like it would be a natural choice.
The folk tune is light and airy and fits neatly within the confines of traditional figure skating.
Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres went in another direction.
Yes, the French pairs team chose the 1960s hit for its free skate last year, and will bring it back for the Olympic program Thursday. But rather than the original, the two opted for a haunting, heavy-metal cover by American rock band Disturbed.
“It was our coaches who found it,” James said. “They were like, ‘We really think it could be a hit.’ And Morgan listened to it and was like, ‘I don’t like it,’ because we weren’t used to it. And I was like, ‘OK, let me see if I can get into this.’ I thought it could be amazing, and I was like, ‘Morgan, let’s trust them.’ And we were so right to have trusted them.”
That’s because the rendition, coupled with the pair’s dramatic program, became such a fan favorite that the two replaced this season’s program with it for the Pyeongchang Games.
“When you have a powerful voice and words to express,” James said, “it changes everything.”
Fans still will see four Olympic programs set to “Carmen” and three to “Swan Lake.” Two programs are set to the figure skating staple “Moonlight Sonata,” including one by ice-dance favorites Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.
But the decision by skating’s governing body after the 2014 Sochi Games to allow lyrics in all disciplines expanded the breadth of what is available, and skaters have taken broad liberties with it.
Ed Sheeran and Coldplay will provide soundtracks to the Olympic skating scene. The rock bands Imagine Dragons and Snow Patrol, English vocalist Benjamin Clementine and pop musicians Lorde, Christina Aguilera and Adele also have music in the mix.
“At the beginning, people were just choosing random music,” Cipres recalled, “but after some time, I think people realized it didn’t work. You have to choose your music carefully.”
James and Cipres weren’t the only ones to choose covers over an original.
Two-time world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada wanted “With or Without You” for their short program, but they decided U2’s original was a bit monotone. Their choreographers unearthed a little-known cover by singer-songwriter April Meservy that worked better for their routine.
“There are people who are like, ‘Why aren’t they skating to the original?’ But if you listen to the original, it doesn’t lend itself well to a figure-skating program,” Radford explained. “April’s version just has more ebb and flow, and it just works better for us.”
Worked out well for Meservy, too. An anonymous donor provided funds for her to travel from the U.S. to South Korea and watch Duhamel and Radford perform to her rendition on Olympic ice.
“‘With or Without You’ is a popular song,” Duhamel said, “but we always try to find unique versions of things. We try to veer off the path and pick obscure versions of songs.”
That’s what German skater Paul Fentz thought he was doing when he asked his choreographer to find a 1950s-style jazz tune. He wound up doing Paul Anka’s version of the Oasis hit “Wonderwall.”
Fentz performed to it during his short program for the team competition last week, and he quickly became a trending topic on social media as fans debated whether it was cool or cringeworthy.
“That’s the risk you take,” said Fentz, whose free-skate set to music from “Game of Thrones” could win back some skeptics.
Austrians Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer will perform to the well-known song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” when they step on the ice Wednesday for their short program. But rather than the pop-fueled original by the Proclaimers, Ziegler and Kiefer chose a soaring version by the cast of the British musical “Sunshine on Leith.”
Jeff Buckley’s popular version of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” will make an appearance, and so will two covers by K.D. Lang.