Maryze & Skyler Cocco by Priscilla Mars Cool
Music, Sounds

LISTEN: Maryze and Skyler Cocco cover Gwen Stefani’s ‘Cool’

by Lorraine Carpenter

An at-once modernized and ’80s-tinged sapphic fairy-tale version of the song from the 2000s is “ready to take up space in the queer pop world.”

Montreal/L.A. bilingual alt-pop singer Maryze and L.A. indie-pop artist and producer Skyler Cocco have teamed up to cover “Cool” by Gwen Stefani. What they’re calling a sapphic fairy tale version of the song from the 2000s — one that’s “ready to take up space in the queer pop world” — is at once modernized and steeped in ’80s nostalgia.

Maryze explained the appeal of the Gwen Stefani song.

“There’s something about ‘Cool’ that always felt evocative to me. It wasn’t necessarily Gwen’s biggest hit, but the melancholy of a past relationship that didn’t go up in flames — where there’s still a lot of sweetness, even if things didn’t work out — always rang true to me.”

LISTEN: Maryze and Skyler Cocco cover Gwen Stefani’s ‘Cool’

Being partly based in L.A., collaborating with West Coast talent made a lot of sense to Maryze, and Skyler Cocco (known for songs like “The Drive”) seemed like the right match for a duet, and to produce the track.

“Skyler was at the top of my list to collab with! We’d had a couple studio sessions so I knew our vocal tones blended well and that her production had a super polished ’80s feel.”

Listen to the “Cool” by Maryze and Skyler Cocco below.

For more on Maryze, please click here.

For more Montreal music coverage, please visit the Music section.

Posted in Music, Sounds

by Lorraine Carpenter

Editor in chief
Lorraine Carpenter was born in Montreal and studied communications and journalism at Concordia. She co-founded Cult MTL in 2012 following 12 years at the now-defunct Montreal alt weekly the Mirror, where she worked in editorial as copy editor and music editor. She’s dedicated to supporting the cultural scene in Montreal.