Tis lit my liege.

We all love a good internet rabbit hole.

One that an increasing amount of internet dwellers have found themselves in since lockdown is Bardcore. It’s a genre that dates back to the early weeks of lockdown – 20 April 2020 to be precise. It consists of medieval-style covers fit for a 15th Century king that feel like they’ve been lifted straight out of Skyrim.

While there were some earlier standalone versions created on youtube, the overall sound and name of the revelatory internet-based genre was birthed only recently and the number of tracks being uploaded to youtube has skyrocketed in the past two months.

In the covers that make up Bardcore or Tavernwave, tracks like Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ have been given an Olde English treatment, with many of the synths, guitars and pianos being replaced with harps, hand-held drums and flutes, while the lyrics have been medievalised too.

“I want thine ugly, I want thy disease, take aught from thee shall I if it can be free”

It stemmed from a German web developer’s passion for medieval music when he decided to remake Tony Igy’s ‘Astronomia’ with an antiquated twist. It quickly racked up over two million views and since then numerous other Youtube producers have built upon the trend.

In the past month or so there’s been hundreds of uploads and repeated requests in comment sections of popular videos that have led to the production of a bardcore version of Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ among other classics.

so get yourself a yard of mead and bump it in the tavern.

Photo: Jolene Bardcore Youtube