Music News

Listen to the Haiti single

Idols judge, Simon Cowell, has orchestrated an all-star re-recording of R.E.M's "Everybody Hurts" to help aid the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Listen to Mariah Carey, Susan Boyle, Bon Jovi and others as they sing to save.

The Simon Cowell Haiti benefit single will be available for download from Sunday, February 7th but we give you a sneak preview of the song here.

The all-star rendition features the big names in music, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams, Leona Lewis, Susan Boyle, Rod Stewart, Jon Bon Jovi, Miley Cyrus and others. The single is expected to sell over a million copies within days of release and is likely to be the top download in the UK in 2010.

“We’re getting record levels of pre-orders for "Everybody Hurts". It is well on course to become a million seller, easily the biggest selling single for a decade,” the Daily Star quoted HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo as saying.

Cowell’s version sticks pretty close to the 1992 original with all the stars involved each singing a line from the R.E.M. classic.

With Cowell’s involvement, “Everybody Hurts” is aimed more at a British audience than an American one, as several contestants from Cowell’s UK shows like The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent make appearances, including Joe McElderry and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, Robbie Williams, JLS and Westlife.

Rounding out Cowell’s crew are Mika, Kylie Minogue, James Morrison, Michael Buble and James Blunt.

Curious to hear the song? Listen to it here:

The song, recorded in London and Los Angeles, can already be ordered online at hmv.com, play.com, and amazon.co.uk, and the money raised goes to the Helping Haiti fund.

* What do you think of the remake? Let us know in the comment box below.

57 Thoughts
SPEAK YOUR MIND
  1. I have totally changed my mind about this song. I was won over by the courage and dedication of the lyrics but just two days ago my grandmother was listening to it on Youtube and instantly died of ovarian cancer. I think it is irresponsible for the music industry to put out singles that they KNOW can cause severe injuries, disease and even DEATH! they try to hide the studies and pay off researchers and scientists but they cannot keep this quiet any more. Open your eyes to the conspiracy people! Or you or someone you love could be the next victim.
    By Tina McKlintock
    Posted 6 months ago
  2. Having read the comments al I can say is -What a bloody miserable bunch most of these twats are. I bet you all are deep down so unhappy with life - that is why you complain like that. If you do not have anything positive to say SHUT UP. As someone has asked, what have you done to help those in Haiti? And for those who says charity starts at home, well I do my share on all fronts but I am more hesitant these days do assist on the home front because it ends up as a luxury car rather than food or shelter for which it was meant. People, change your mindset and see the beauty and positive in life and you will experience the joy of life!
    By Peter
    Posted 6 months ago
  3. Matt, use your head and you'll realise what a waste of time, money and effort it would take to produce an original song by the artists, who are putting their energies to better use by "lending" REM's original . Haiti needs help now!! Beautiful song, still one of my favourites and if it does'nt touch your heart then maybe you've lost yours somewhere along life's journey??
    By Lesley
    Posted 6 months ago
  4. Bloody Brilliant! I am a huge REM fan and have been since I can remember. And yes, REM will always be the best at this song, but the artists involved have really done an amazing job and sang with such emotion that they really got into the meaning of this song. Well done!!
    By Cindy
    Posted 7 months ago
  5. I am about to go and have chemotherapy which is not too pleasant every 2 weeks for 3 days but after seeing this video I am positive that the chemo will not be bad at all. The pain and suffering on those faces is enough to make me realize that my little bit of chemotherapy is insignificant. I will sure have a good day and thank The Lord for a great life. And for those of you who are moaning, yes I do support the street children and soup kitchens here in KZN South Africa but it is now time to support Haiti.
    By NOREEN
    Posted 7 months ago
  6. This song. It is terrible. It makes me hurt too.
    By g
    Posted 7 months ago
  7. Burns my backside that we have South Africans jumping up and down to send scarce resources halfway across the world. In our own country we still have people fighting for survival every day of their lives. Just because we don’t have the networks filming it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Haiti btw, independent for 209 years and the poorest but most corrupt state in the western hemisphere. Wouldn’t spend one cent on the CD!
    By Frank
    Posted 7 months ago
  8. It is a great effort for a good cause and as for those moaning about this butchering R.E.M's original, I can tell you R.E.M wont be complaining because as is always the case with something like this, the original will also see a jump in download sales.
    By Brad
    Posted 7 months ago
  9. Love it! Bugger-off Matt!
    By Petro Mersham
    Posted 7 months ago
  10. Great reason for doing it pity that the great names contributing couldn't take it up a level instead of down! I will contribute to the fund but not by spending good money on this rubbish.
    By dave
    Posted 7 months ago
  11. Being negative to this effort, no matter how small, is stupid. It will be bought by many people who either enjoy the song or have their favourite singer in it. What is really important is to create the awareness of the importance of assisting people in distress. Even the silly comments here are good because more people will become aware through people talking about it. Well done for Simon to have taken some action! Words dont help people, only action does.
    By Make A Difference
    Posted 7 months ago
  12. Being negative to this effort, no matter how small, is stupid. It will be bought by many people who either enjoy the song or have their favourite singer in it. What is really important is to create the awareness of the importance of assisting people in distress. Even the silly comments here are good because more people will become aware through people talking about it. Well done for Simon to have taken some action! Words dont help people, only action does.
    By Make A Difference
    Posted 7 months ago
  13. The original song done by REM remains the best version ever! This one is really good too - the Haiti story now connected to the "Everybody Hurts" melody is really a haunting experience. But, yes, with all the talent drawn together to cover the song, surely in an instant they could come up with their own original equally evocative and emotional tune and lyrics designed to drive us to tear our purses apart for donating more and more bucks for a good cause albeit in the guise of fixing yet another disaster in a far off place ...
    By JVS
    Posted 7 months ago
  14. Awesome, awesome awesome!
    By Kayla
    Posted 7 months ago
  15. Simon says! Has Simon actually been there, maybe he can donate a % of his money for a worthy cause....
    By Lorna Belcevski
    Posted 7 months ago
  16. The song says, "everybody cries, everybody hurts, so hold on. Take comfort in a friend." The overall sentiment is help this world however you can. If not Haiti, then your local soup kitchen; If not sub-Saharan African, then an injured animal on the side of the street. But, don't begrudge people who are helping others just because you think your pain is bigger. Matthew Arnold wrote, "Ah love let us be true to one another for the world which seems to lie before us so beautiful, so various so new, hath really neither joy, nor love,nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain and we are here as on a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight where ignorant armies clash by night." This is no hippie stuff. It's reality. Life is a doozy and we have to do the best we can to make it and we can only do that by helping others. Peace.
    By brown pelican
    Posted 7 months ago
  17. I want to say to all Peoples of Haiti Be Strong. God knows. We always love u all.
    By Themba Sibanyoni
    Posted 7 months ago
  18. Thank U all,its all about extending a helping hand to the people,a song for humanity.God bless You.
    By Ahmed
    Posted 7 months ago
  19. If 6pence per cd goes to Haiti it is more better than nothing. . Everybody hurts is not what it is about.... it is HOLD ON. Simon has the money and the power to do. Good for you Simon!!!
    By Cazee
    Posted 7 months ago
  20. Great Gesture! Thanx......
    By al
    Posted 7 months ago
  21. What a load of sh*t
    By Css
    Posted 7 months ago
  22. its so amazing i hav to agree with MAGDA but it sucks.
    By aamara ebrahim
    Posted 7 months ago
  23. Tasteless choice of song. "Everybody hurts sometimes". Not sure how that would make any Hatian feel better about their situation.
    By Sean
    Posted 7 months ago
  24. I wonder how much of the money will reach Haiti? Would love to see the numbers. Star bucks ran a "save the world" promotion awhile back and contributed a whopping 2% of your drink purchase for specific drinks to the cause. Well that's around 9 cents for every $4.50 they get. They spent more marketing the campaign than what they gave. Want to support Haiti, find out who was supporting haiti before all this went down and that will be your money best spent.
    By Robo
    Posted 7 months ago
  25. Very well done, I love it
    By Beverley
    Posted 7 months ago
  26. There will always be those ignorant self centred people who have the most to say and do nothing.of these artists may well have helped people in africa but it still wouldnt be enough for you. at least they are TRYING! instead of shooting your mouth off, why dont you go out and try to make a difference in at least one persons life? i can honestly say that i have. Well done to those who were involved. its a very sad emotional song and my heart goes out to those who have experienced pain,loss and hurt. My heart also goes out to the people in africa who are suffering, trying to do good is better than doing nothing at all.
    By jodie
    Posted 7 months ago
  27. I am shamed into silence. Your lightning-fast wit may have been better served tearing crushed children from the ruins of primary schools, if only you had the willpower to do so. Unfortunately, my skills extend only to second-rate critical music theory and the ability to spot marketing propaganda at work, both of which are pretty useless in Haiti right now - unless of course, you are Simon Cowell..
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  28. Matt, it's a pity we have people like you who can read and write. If you spent half the time trying to do something about Haiti, rather than giving us such an uneducated comments about nothing, you, yourself, might actually help. Even if this songs generates the smallest amount of help or hope for Haiti, it's still something and it's more than you've done anyway.
    By Sam
    Posted 7 months ago
  29. I agree. I'm glad that they are spending their valuable time and energy releasing miserable songs about not committing suicide instead of other, more arbitrary things like lobbying the American government to enact fair trade legislation or actually flying to Haiti and helping rebuild it. Unfortunately, I was unable to personally help out with the Haiti relief efforts as I was far too busy working at the soup kitchen at my local homeless shelter where the refugees are just as dirty but not quite as photogenic as the poor Haitians.
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  30. okay, i have read all 27 comments and my question is this. what have you done as an individual to support those people in haiti?let them do their bit. the song was never going to please everybody.i actually think it's great that simon cowell, evil genius that he is, has managed to galvanize these guys and turn it around in such a short space of time. hell, not even the us coast guard could get to haiti in time.
    By dani
    Posted 7 months ago
  31. MAT T, YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!COME ON PEOPLE, OPEN UR EYES
    By Radiohead
    Posted 7 months ago
  32. I'm with you on this one Matt. Music to jump off high buildings by. Maybe not quite so upbeat. This has nothing to do Haiti and everything to do with bloated egos. Couldn't one of the so-called artists have a stab at something both original and appropriate.
    By neil
    Posted 7 months ago
  33. Of course there is always a catch. We live in a world where Labrador puppies are blown to bits in roadside bombs, where whales are cut in half with chainsaws by Japanese fishermen just for the sheer fun of it, where Indian pharmaceutical companies will release deadly toxins into the air and decimate the population of a nearby town just because they don't like the way they cook their naan breads... And Simon Cowell makes money out of it. As if the Haitians haven't been through enough pain and suffering, now we have to remind them of it by giving them a god-awful cover of the most depressing song in the history of the world (besides possibly "If I Had A Hammer" by Peter, Paul and Mary).
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  34. Not too bad hey, to too bad at all...
    By Thulz
    Posted 7 months ago
  35. Clever Simon Cowell. Great excuse to market and promote his artists signed to Syco music. There's always a catch....
    By non-conformist
    Posted 7 months ago
  36. AWESOME!!!
    By JOSI
    Posted 7 months ago
  37. They do stuff like this for the people of Hiati, which is very kind and generous. But everyday thousands of people in sub-saharan africa and other parts of the world die of all sorts of deseases and more. Why not play on sympathies with other songs and give the money to those people? better yet, let the celebrities give some of their money for these causes. dit laat my met 'n wondor? Perhaps publicity figures in there somewhere?
    By Wondor?
    Posted 7 months ago
  38. Not everything can be excused for a worthy cause. If I started up a charity that donated a million bucks to Haiti for every time I stabbed Jon Bon Jovi in the eye with a knife, I am pretty sure everyone would agree that it is for a good cause. But you can't excuse that kind of thing, even if Jon Bon Jovi is a massive douchebag. The ends do not justify the means! Actually that is a poor example because no one would disagree with me stabbing Jon Bon Jovi in the head with a knife. Also, my neighbours were too poor to afford a pig, and if they could have afforded a pig and then actually went out and bought a pig, that pig would have been breathing and standing for about 38 seconds before my entire neighbourhood descended on it like evil birds and devoured it alive.
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  39. I think it's great. they've could've done a little more harmonising, but all in all a job well done.
    By tange
    Posted 7 months ago
  40. Great song, spoiled by great artist kama for a good course, surely the Haitian's deserve more and better than this!! I agree with why all this great artist couldn't write something NEW?? Same as the USA for Africa, we r the world, damit, compose something new please, moenie ou goed kom oor sing nie asb.
    By James_Windhoek
    Posted 7 months ago
  41. Don't mind Matt, had a dysfunctional childhood, never got enough attention, not even the neighbors pig would be seen with him, Matt, whether the song meets with your approval or not, it's for a worthy cause. They have done more than you have, so why not keep your attention seeking comments reigned in!
    By Brent
    Posted 7 months ago
  42. perhaps Adam Lambert could've added a much needed touch of something new ...
    By notafan
    Posted 7 months ago
  43. Not a fan!
    By notafan
    Posted 7 months ago
  44. Nice food pun Sandra! I think it's clever to do a pop song rather than a song about starving people. More likely to sell, which will help more in the end.
    By Goda
    Posted 7 months ago
  45. Fabulous, well done to all that played a roll in putting this together
    By Sandra
    Posted 7 months ago
  46. Well when I was in Standard 3 one of my mates wanted my sandwich (which was salami and mustard) in exchange for his sandwich (which was egg mayonnaise) and even though I hate egg mayonnaise I swapped with him. He really liked the salami sandwich but I just couldn't bring myself to eat the egg mayo sandwich so I gave it to this other kid called Greg Baxter who was in the special class. He was a bit weird so he put the sandwich up his nose, but the important thing to remember here is that I went hungry so that other people could eat salami. This is almost like what is happening in Haiti and all over the world, except the difference is that I made my own sandwich!
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  47. To all you negative asshol.. what have you done to help anyone, at least they will give something. Get a life
    By Bob
    Posted 7 months ago
  48. I'm with Matt on this one. Where's Tom Jones? Only he could save this!
    By Francois
    Posted 7 months ago
  49. I agree, its awful. They've butchered an awesome song. Should have got their own song.
    By Eileen
    Posted 7 months ago
  50. Matt, jy kan tien teen een nie 'n noot sing nie. Dit is beautifull !! Dis net die wat die duiwel in sy hart het wat sulke snert kwytraak.
    By Henda
    Posted 7 months ago
  51. It is soo beautiful... and how wonderful to listen to all my favourite singers pulling together for Haiti. I shall be first in the queue to buy it!!! Well done ALL!!
    By Pat of P.E.
    Posted 7 months ago
  52. I just gave it another listen, just to make sure I wasn't imagining things the first time round, and sure enough this music made me black out in a fit of nausea and pain. When I came to, I was literally vomiting blood from my ears and I had gouged great tufts of hair out of my head. While I had been unconscious, the devil had spoken to me, and his words were like the sounds of a great bell clanging in the dark ocean: "This is MY song." Be warned. This song is the sound of Satan rising.
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  53. Awsum.Well done!!
    By Col
    Posted 7 months ago
  54. Matt gaan vang 'n kak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    By Annemarie
    Posted 7 months ago
  55. What a travesty. Why can't all these supposedly brilliant artists write their own song for Haiti, instead of butchering an old favourite? Micheal Stipe should be turning in his grave, unless he is still alive, in which case he should kill himself for allowing this to happen, get buried, and then start turning in his grave.
    By Matt
    Posted 7 months ago
  56. Awesome...I will be buying it!!! brings tears to my eyes
    By mark
    Posted 7 months ago
  57. Well done to everybody involved!! An amazing project with amazing artists!!!
    By magda olwagen
    Posted 7 months ago

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