People have been making music with whatever instruments they could get their hands on since the beginning of time.
Sticks, buckets, spoons, and of course, our own voices.
In Vanuatu, women have been using water as an instrument for ages, slapping the surface in time as they sing.
Even in modern days, when it feels like we have every possible instrument available either at our local music shop or online, we can still get creative.
Lennon and Maisy, two sisters from Canada, covered Robyn’s hit 2010 song, “Call Your Girlfriend” with nothing but empty butter containers. The pair were about 10 and six years old at the time and recorded it from their kitchen.
The scene was stripped down so as to suit the acappella cover.
A big brown paper sheet hung behind them with their names hastily written above their heads in marker. The professional microphones could be seen just at the edge of the screen.
Lennon starts off by drumming and singing on her own while Maisy sits patiently.
She’s created a system of clapping, drumming and flipping the butter container on the table to help carry the song. On the second line, Maisy chimes in and effortlessly picks up her butter container to the exact same beat. They must have practiced the drumming and clapping aspect 100 times first before being able to add the singing in over top. It looks like second nature to them, but requires a lot of coordination!
For emphasis on some portions of the song, they drop their containers and sing entirely acappella, harmonizing together beautifully.
The lyrics to Robyn’s song are about and falling for someone who’s already in a relationship. The song is written from the perspective of “the other woman” who’s giving advice to her partner on how to break off this person’s relationship so they can be with Robyn instead:
“Call your girlfriend
It’s time you had the talk
Give your reasons
Say it’s not her fault
But you just met somebody new.”
It’s probably not something either of these young girls have had to deal with yet (we hope), but they breathe the necessary emotion into the cover anyway.
Robyn’s original tune is an upbeat pop song, suitable for dancing—still, most would agree that the lyrics are way more well-suited to this style the girls have chosen.
This unique style remained popular for a couple years, and unlikely artists like Emma Stone and Mya Rudolph got involved too!
Anna Kendrick fans also went wild for a cover of her Pitch Perfect song “When I’m Gone” that used a similar plastic cup technique as well.
Lennon and Maisy’s parents are both musicians, too—they’re a country duo who perform as The Stellas.
Their girls have never had formal training but have been singing their whole lives…and it shows! The whole family is incredibly talented.
The video quickly went viral and skyrocketed them to international fame.
They have since performed on TV shows like Nashville, and Lennon has gone on tour and performed at music festivals around the world.
Eight years later, the girls are all grown up.
Lennon now simply goes by Lennon Stella and is a solo artist, but still performs with her younger sister and her parents sometimes.
Do you think you could keep up with their butter container drumming?
This performance has definitely inspired us to give it a try.
Check out their full performance in the link below:
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