Posted by Nate Jones on 12/17/2012 at 4:03 PM News

The Popdust Files: channel orange, cody simpson, covers, frank ocean, super rich kids

For a 15-year-old Australian teen idol, Cody Simpson’s cover game is shockingly on-point. He’s got Popdust-approved versions of Jack Johnson and Calvin Harris hits under his belt, but for some reason, his heart always seems to lead him back towards the moody late-night R&B of Drake and the Weeknd.

In that context, Cody’s just-released “re-imagining” of Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange stunner “Super Rich Kids” seems much less strange, just a kid covering the kind of music he really enjoys without commercial consideration getting in the way (or, the possibility exists, covering the music that he knows the blogosphere likes, which is a different type of consideration).

But it’s still pretty strange! He’s changed the title around to “Super Beach Kids” and made the song all about surfing, which means that lines about “Too many bottles of this wine we can’t pronounce” get changed to “Whole lotta salt in my veins I can’t get out.” The critical distance is lacking, is all we’re saying.

Still, though, for a high-school sophomore, Cody does a fantastic imitation of Frank’s deadpan stank in the verses. Check it out below: