‘Kidz Bop’ Could Never: Watch a Bunch of Children Cover Nine Inch Nails’ Self-Loathing Anthem ‘Wish’

Music is a great way to teach children about the important things in life — love and loss, hope and sadness, the power of people, and absolutely debilitating, destructive self-loathing and masochism. That’s why we must give a shout-out to the kids who dared to do the impossible and covered Nine Inch Nails’ “Wish.”

The cover is at once very faithful and, understandably, heavily censored: Total hard rock abandon, led by a menacing lead vocal performance from 10-year-old singer Zoë Franziska, who still manages to inject some serious edge into tweaked, age-appropriate lyrics like “Gotta listen to your big-time, hard-line, bad luck, fist… bump” (if you know, you know). 

Accompanying the cover is a music video that starts with a young girl enduring the most boring birthday ever. After blowing out the candle on a cupcake, she makes a wish (get it) and receives a raucous bash filled with mosh pits, classic video games, a lot of candy, and a sick performance of a song about being incredibly sick in the head. Exactly what every child wants. 

Along with Franziska, the “Wish” cover was performed by guitarists Logan K (10) and Xander Markewich (13), bassist Seba Stephens (11), drummer Will Bright (18), and keytar player — hell yeah they got a keytar in there — Brackston Applegate (10). The cover was produced by the O’Keefe Music Foundation, a non-profit that aims to bring music education to kids around the world for free. 

Nine Inch Nails originally released “Wish” back in 1992 on their EP, Broken, which fell between their 1989 debut Pretty Hate Machine and 1994’s blockbuster The Downward Spiral. The track notably earned Nine Inch Nails their Grammy Award, winning Best Metal Performance. 

From Rolling Stone US.