Mayer Hawthorne Covers Rihanna's "Stay"

Mayer Hawthorne has produced his own rendition of Rihanna‘s “Stay.” The song is apparently one of Hawthorne’s favorite numbers to come out of the modern pop landscape, and he believes it’s “one of the best pop songs that’s been written in the past decade.” The cover was premiered on Esquire, with the following statement being included to explain the cover:

“The only thing that was missing from the original version of the song was the funk,” he says. “So we took it to that sexy Barry White funk zone. Any time I’m doing a cover of a song, I’m trying to do it better than the original. I’m trying to beat the original. Otherwise I don’t see the point of doing a cover.”

You can listen to Mayer Hawthorne’s cover of “Stay” above.