There’s a strange pocket of time I’ve found myself in.
I’m home from Las Vegas. The noise, the lights, the reset button that travel always seems to hit that’s over. At the same time, I’m finishing out my duties in my current role and starting to apply for new ones. It’s that in-between space. Not quite done. Not quite started. Handover, they call it. Dead man walking, I call it.
And creatively? It’s a little quiet.
Not blocked. Not burned out. Just… quiet.
If you’ve ever played music long enough, you know that feeling. You pick up the guitar or sit at the keys. Maybe you stare at a blank page. And nothing urgent shows up.
That’s where covers come in. Here’s how playing covers can boost creativity.
Covers as Creative CPR
There’s a myth that writing is the purest form of creativity, that if you’re not producing original material, you’re somehow coasting.
I don’t buy that.
Playing a cover isn’t copying. It’s conversation.
When you play someone else’s song, you’re stepping inside their architecture. You’re feeling how they move from verse to chorus and studying how tension builds. You hear how lyrics sit against melody.
And most importantly, you’re playing.
When you’re not feeling creative, the worst thing you can do is stop touching your instrument. Covers keep your hands moving. They keep your ears open. They keep you in the room.
Sometimes that’s all creativity needs: presence.
Why Covers Work When Originals Don’t
When you’re writing your own material, you’re asking yourself to:
- Be honest
- Be interesting
- Be different
- Be good
That’s a lot of pressure, especially during transitional seasons of life, like wrapping up one chapter professionally while trying to start another.
Covers remove that pressure.
The bones are already there. The melody exists. The lyrics are written. You’re free to focus on interpretation instead of invention.
And interpretation is creative.
You can:
- Slow it down.
- Strip it back.
- Change the key.
- Lean into a lyric differently.
- Find a groove that wasn’t there before.
In that freedom, something interesting happens: your own voice starts creeping back in.
The One I Keep Coming Back To
Right now, the cover that keeps pulling at me is Purple Rain by Prince.
There’s something about that song, longing, release, ache that feels appropriate in a season of transition.
“I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain.”
It’s dramatic, vulnerable, and unapologetically emotional.
Which might be exactly why it’s the right song to sit with right now.
The Hidden Benefit
Here’s the other thing about covers: they often unlock originals.
You start messing with a chord progression from someone else’s song, and suddenly you land on a variation that’s yours, leaning into a melody, and it veers somewhere unexpected.
Suddenly, you’re reconnecting with the simple act of playing without expectation, and creativity quietly walks back into the room.
Not forced.
Not summoned.
Just invited.
That cover just boosted your creativity.
The In-Between Is Productive Too
This season, between Vegas and whatever’s next professionally, could easily feel like idle time.
But I’m seeing it differently.
It’s space.
Space to play, revisit songs I’ve always loved, and space to remember why I started doing this in the first place.
Sometimes creativity doesn’t need a lightning bolt.
Sometimes it just needs you to press play on someone else’s song and begin.
And if that song happens to be Purple Rain?
Even better.