Though I generally consider cover songs to be a slight step up from a night at a karaoke bar, I will say there are a few covers that I am super pumped about. So although I am kind of over everyone with a guitar taking a jab at Johnny Cash’s “Jackson,” there are a few rare occasions in which artists take a song I love (for example, Johnny Cash’s “Jackson”) and  do something new with it that I can’t help but love just as much — if not more.

For instance, I did not think I could enjoy Britney Spears’ “Toxic” any more than I already do until I heard Yael Naim’s slowed down, piano/vibes interpretation of it.

Also, I really believed that R. Kelly peaked at “Trapped in the Closet” (especially during chapter two, whereupon he is discovered in the aforementioned closet and naturally whips out a gun).

Then I recently heard Sam Amidon’s cover of his little-known religious R&B tune “Relief,” and I completely changed my mind.

And though I have a little trouble taking R Kelly’s sentiment “What a relief to know / There’s an angel in the sky” very seriously, when Sam Amidon sets it to beautifully orchestrated American/folk music it works in the most wonderful of ways.

Really, I am a big fan of most “ironic” cover songs. The instant a legitimate band gets their hands on a super cheesy and/or outdated song, the internet blows up and, in turn, the quality of my iTunes goes up a few notches.

For instance last summer, the super hyped-up Swedish band jj gave Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” a nod in their an ambient single called “Ecstasy” and blogs just exploded. In turn, its play count on my computer became embarrassingly high.

So I was appropriately ecstatic about jj’s recent release, “My Life,” which sounds like Fiona Apple singing Weezy’s words (namely, “They say / You ain’t grindin’ til you tired”). The song then concludes with the chorus of ATC’s early ’00s dance single “Around the World (La La La La La).” Yep, it throws you for a bit of a loop. But it is also all kinds of enjoyable.

Speaking of unexpected throwbacks, remember Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops)”?

It’s this R&B single from 2001 which features a lyrical chorus of “When your man wanna get buckwild / Just go back and hit ‘em up style.”

Anyway, this awesome old-time bluegrass band called the Carolina Chocolate Drops did this fantastic, tongue-in-cheek cover, and I really cannot stop listening.

I never thought that the fiddle fit in with lines such as “I was beaming in his Beamer, just beaming” until I gave this song a listen.

And though I’m not quite sure that R. Kelly and Blu Cantrell fit into the “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” category, I think that might be the case for Peter Gabriel’s latest album, Scratch My Back, which covered everything from Radiohead to Arcade Fire and Neil Young.

Overall, I was not the biggest fan. I personally prefer my Peter Gabriel blaring out of John Cusack’s boom box.

However, I was quite fond of his version of Bon Iver’s “Flume,” which amped up the originally enchanting albeit spare folk tune into a symphonic ballad.

And obviously the band Hot Chip was just tipping its hat to Shakira when they covered “She Wolf,” which turned the electronic pop song into …  well, another electronic pop song — without Shakira’s deep breathing/wolf noises.  Clearly it’s sub-par.

As opposed as I often am to people trying to top Shakira (something that is obviously impossible) — and well, cover songs in general, I really do enjoy when they allow me to love a song I would otherwise dismiss — or, better yet, let me revisit a song that I forgot that I loved.

That is precisely why I am eagerly anticipating a legitimate cover of Chris Brown’s “Forever.”

I would really enjoy being able to listen to that song on my iTunes without feeling guilty.

For now, I guess I will just have to settle for karaoke nights.