Ivy Sole launches COVERED video project with a reinvention of Snoh Aalegra’s “Whoa”

Philly rapper Ivy Sole is paying tribute to her favorite songs of recent years in the new Covered video series, launched today on her Facebook page.

The first song she performs is “Whoa” by Los Angeles-via-Sweden singer-songwriter Snoh Aalegra. In its original version, the song is an upbeat R&B bop with a cosmic tinge; for her reinvention, Ivy Sole slows down the tempo, switches the focus from kick to hi-hat, and places her vocal bold and clear in center stage, meditating on desire, and fear: “I know you’re scared,” she sings. “Know that I’m here.”

As the world remains as rife with uncertainty as ever, despite the “new day” that many Americans celebrated this week, this song and Ivy Sole’s performance of it create a space of comfort, companionship, and healing. The video is equally intimate, setting up “Whoa” with close-ups of apartment details — a chess board, a sage bundle — before panning out to reveal the performer seated on a couch, singing into a microphone, surrounded by greenery.

Watch “Whoa” covered by Ivy Sole below, listen to the Snoh Aalegra original, and follow Ivy Sole’s Covered playlist on Facebook.