T-Pain Gains High Praise From Gavin DeGraw After Nailing Cover of His 2003 Hit “I Don’t Want to Be”

Since the late 1990s, T-Pain has entertained fans of hip-hop with his masterful use of auto-tune and his collaborations with artists like Kanye West. But while many fans believed they knew the full extent of the singer’s talents, they appeared pleasantly surprised when the songwriter released his On Top of the Covers album in March. The album featured the singer covering numerous iconic songs. With fans praising him, it seems that even Gavin DeGraw shared his love for the artist after he covered “I Don’t Want to Be.”

Besides releasing the album in March, T-Pain recently uploaded an entire set of the songs on YouTube titled On Top Of The Covers (Live From The Sun Rose). With the hit released on DeGraw’s debut album in 2003, the singer wasted no time sharing T-Pain’s cover of his song on Twitter. He even captioned the post, writing, “Love it Man.”

[Bring In The New Year With T-Pain]

While sharing a new side of himself, T-Pain celebrated Christmas by giving back to the fans who supported him throughout the decades. He wrote on Twitter, “For all the people who wanted an album of me singing live, this is my holiday gift to you. For the Tiny Desk & Masked Singer fans & everyone in between, you ain’t heard nothing yet. Thank you all for supporting me through this wild journey.” 

Fans React To T-Pain Performing Live

With many fans shocked by the talent of T-Pain, the artist explained how the album took years to make. “It got put on hold for a bit, but now that I’m independent, I’m able to do whatever I want to do through Nappy Boy Entertainment and this is something I’ve felt strongly about for a long time. These songs are not what you’d expect when you hear that T-Pain is doing a covers album and that is what I think is cool about it.” 

[RELATED: Watch T-Pain’s Smooth Cover of “Tennessee Whiskey” Ahead of Las Vegas Residency Announcement]

Releasing his performance at the Sun Rose on YouTube, fans joined DeGraw with praise for T-Pain. “OMG! Didn’t know T-Pain has this type of vocals. He didn’t just sing one type of music, he was so versatile, just to show what he can really do! AMAZING SET!” Another person added that the set was more than just covers. “These arrangements are ridiculously incredible. These aren’t “just” covers. These are reimagined and reinvented in such a way that they honor the original yet highlight his talent so well. Love your work brother. Keep it up.” 

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(Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)