Hey Violet’s cover of Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ devastatingly sad without Iain Shipp

**Hey Violet’s cover of Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida‘ will break your heart**

American pop rock band Hey Violet is one of those artists I rush to click on the minute another video or single is released. Because, come on, the amount of talent in that should-be-a-helluva-lot-more-popular indie band is ridiculous, and lead singer Rena Lovelis’s vocal’s are always gorgeous.

The Los Angeles-based band’s latest video release was just uploaded an hour ago.

A Hey Violet cover of Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida‘ and one that, to me, is so much more sad than the original.

After all, not only is their arrangement of a stripped down version of the song incredibly touching, it is also heartbreaking to see the now only three Hey Violet members in a room together after bassist Iain Shipp was asked to leave the band earlier in the month due to rape allegations.

Allegations that the remaining three members of Hey Violet admitted in a statement, could not be proven or disproven due to the lack of evidence.

They chose to ask him to leave anyway.

After all, in America, the United Kingdom and various other western countries nowadays, it is ‘guilty until proven innocent’ when any news of a possible sexual assault surfaces.

If news about the assaults does turn out to be true, then the woman it happened to hopefully feels some kind of solace.

If the sexual assault allegation turns out to be untrue, however, a falsely accused Iain Shipp now has a reputation that is all but destroyed.

Heart-breaking in either respect. And likely a very difficult decision for the remaining members of Hey Violet to have had to make.

I wonder also if Hey Violet’s cover of ‘Viva La Vida‘ was chosen for a specific reason?

After all, listen to the opening lyrics of the song, and then tell me that doesn’t make you feel sad for Iain, no matter how the situation turns out:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes
Listened as the crowd would sing,
“Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!”
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand