Right. In today's "Can Ed Sheeran just leave the fuck alone?" news, he has done a cover of Britney Spears' iconic debut single "…Baby One More Time," which, upon first listen, made me physically wince. Apparently on a personal mission to destroy everything I hold dear, Sheeran has turned one of the best pop songs of the last 20 years into another of his boring acoustic versions, complete with that horrible guitar-slapping-in-place-of-percussion thing he does that makes me think of uni open-mic nights. If you've got the stomach for it, have a go below:But what Sheeran has forgotten is that there is already an untouchable "…Baby One More Time" cover present in British pop culture lore. His attempt was pointless. He could never reach the echelons achieved by someone else. That someone is the mononymous Darius, a ponytailed Scot who is almost impossible to describe to anyone who wasn't watching the full spectrum of early 2000s reality TV music contests in the UK.As a primer, you mostly need to know that Darius went from a contestant on the pre-X Factor talent show Popstars in 2001 to doing not too badly on 2002's edition of American Idol precursor Pop Idol (he turned down Simon Cowell's offer of a record deal then; forever iconic). But it was on Popstars that he delivered the best (and by that I mean potentially the worst) non-Britney version of the song anyone could ever hope to achieve. Watch above, and bask in its brilliance, its dedication to singing off-key, its finger-clicking suspense.Could Ed Sheeran ever hope to offer this level of commitment or drama? Does Ed Sheeran ever snap his fingers this effectively, or offer as unique a perspective on the song? The range, the subtle choreography. Ed Sheeran could never. If you have to listen to one Britney cover today, make sure it is Darius'.Follow Lauren on Twitter.(Image via YouTube)
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