Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you blockbuster hits with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, Boyce Avenue lead singer Alejandro Manzano teams up with former X Factor contestant Bea Miller for a mesmerizing cover of Ed Sheeran's "Photograph" — a song that examines long-distance relationships and how love can live in a photo locket necklace.
The video of their performance has earned more than 206 million views on YouTube.
Co-penned by Sheeran and Snow Patrol guitarist Johnny McDaid, the song examines how a simple photograph can ease the pain of being separated from the ones we love.
In the rousing final chorus, the duet sings, “You can fit me / Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen / Next to your heartbeat where I should be / Keep it deep within your soul.”
Sheeran told Spotify.com that he and McDaid wrote “Photograph” in 2012 while hanging out in a Kansas City's Intercontinental Hotel after a performance. Sheeran recalled how he was sitting on the floor making a Lego X-Wing Fighter to give to his sister for a charity auction while a piano loop kept playing on McDaid’s laptop in the background.
“I start singing a line and the song kind of unraveled from there,” Sheeran said. “We sat for about four hours, me making [the] Lego [plane], and him on the laptop, just building stuff and then I picked up a guitar and we properly structured it.”
Sheeran also revealed that song is based on his own experience of trying maintain a relationship with Scottish singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt while on tour for five straight months.
"Photograph" was the third top-10 song from Sheeran's album, Multiply (stylized as “x”). The album hit #1 in 12 countries and reached the Top 5 in 11 others. "Photograph" charted in 30 countries, including a #10 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and #4 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.
The Boyce Avenue cover of "Photograph" appeared as the final track on the group's 2015 album called Boyce Avenue's Cover Collaborations, Vol. 3. Interestingly, Miller was only 16 years old during her performance. Three years earlier, she got her big break when she placed ninth during Season Two of The X Factor.
Boyce Avenue was formed in 2004 by brothers Alejandro, Daniel and Fabian Manzano in Sarasota, FL. The band developed a following by posting videos of original music and covers of popular songs on YouTube. Boyce Avenue frequently tours in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia.
Please check out the video of Boyce Avenue’s 2015 acoustic version of “Photograph,” featuring Miller. The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.
“Photograph”
Written by Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid. Performed by Boyce Avenue, featuring Bea Miller.
Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes
But it’s the only thing that I know
When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive
We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
And time’s forever frozen still
So you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me closer ’til our eyes meet
You won’t ever be alone, wait for me to come home
Loving can heal, loving can mend your soul
And it’s the only thing that I know, know
I swear it will get easier,
Remember that with every piece of you
Hm, and it’s the only thing we take with us when we die
Hm, we keep this love in this photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts were never broken
And time’s forever frozen still
So you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me closer ’til our eyes meet
You won’t ever be alone
And if you hurt me
That’s okay baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won’t ever let you go
Wait for me to come home
Wait for me to come home
Wait for me to come home
Wait for me to come home
You can fit me
Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen
Next to your heartbeat where I should be
Keep it deep within your soul
And if you hurt me
Well, that’s okay baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won’t ever let you go
When I’m away, I will remember how you kissed me
Under the lamppost back on Sixth street
Hearing you whisper through the phone,
“Wait for me to come home.”
Credit: Screen captures via YouTube.com.