Listen: Biffy Clyro cover Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP

Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro – recently announced as a headliner for Download 2021, replacing Iron Maiden from the nixed 2020 lineup, have made an appearance on BBC Radio One’s Live Lounge. The band brought a performance of their own song Tiny Indoor Fireworks, as well as a cover of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP. You can take a look at both below.

While the stripped-down acoustic version of Tiny Indoor Fireworks drew praise from fans, their take on WAP has been controversial, to say the least.

The notoriously explicit song (WAP, that is) saw a Biffy Clyro put a very Biffy Clyro spin on it, turning into WAB – Wet As Biffy. Pretty much every expletive was replaced with either “Biff” or “Biffy”, to baffling effect. Lines that are technically expletive-free were also modified, given the context of a live radio broadcast. While the original’s imagery is fairly clear, if entirely unsuitable for broadcast on national radio, what exactly does “strike a pose like a credit card” mean?

The lyrics have gone through such a radical change it might as well be a different song, and many who heard the version seem to wish it was. “Had sleep paralysis this morning and Biffy Clyro doing WAP was at the end of my bed,” wrote one Twitter user. Analysis soon got political, with one user joking that the song “has just put Scottish independence back by at least a decade.”

There were positive responses, however, with one user writing “Biffy in the live lounge covering WAP is legendary they actual canny do wrong,”

Another wrote: “I didn’t know I needed Biffy covering WAP and Simon Neil rapping.”

Take a listen to both songs below – but be prepared for Simon Neil saying “me tiny wee garage.”

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