My number three favorite thing in the world (after hunting hats and kitties but before pillows with faces and limbs) is any cover done in a style very different from the original. For example, Nouvelle Vague‘s bossa nova covers of 80s new wave songs and the 3Oh!3 “Starstrukk” cover by Marina and the Diamonds.
Another example of my Number Three Favorite Thing in the World is Kate McGill‘s cover of “California Gurls” by Katy Perry (featuring Snoop Dogg)! McGill takes a song that is originally full of late 80s hip-hop-inspired (think De La Soul, specifically “Me Myself and I” and their more recent track “Respect”) electropop intro and overall beats and semi-70s-funk reminiscent pop beat undertones and turns it into a slowed down, acoustic ballad.