Darius Rucker Praises Post Malone’s Cover of ‘Only Wanna Be With You’

Post Malone performed a virtual concert to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise on Saturday, Feb. 27, and ahead of the show, he shared a cover of Hootie & the Blowfish’s hit “Only Wanna Be With You.” During an appearance on the Today show on Friday, Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker shared his thoughts on Malone’s version of the song, saying, “I love it.”

“When I heard it, you should have seen — I mean, I said I couldn’t stop smiling on Twitter and I really couldn’t, I couldn’t stop smiling,” he said. “I was such a big Post Malone fan, we’ve become friends. I love him. I love so much of his music, and for him to cover one of our songs, man, I’m just on cloud nine about that.” On Thursday, Rucker tweeted, “The smile in my face will not leave for a long time. This is awesome. My bro [Post Malone] bringing it. Hell yes man!!!!!!!!!” Malone’s version of “Only Wanna Be With You” is a more soothing take, with the Texas native’s recognizable vocals layered over relaxing guitars and plenty of synthesizer sounds reminiscent of the original Pokémon game.

Rucker told Variety that “It’s awesome to see that a song we wrote almost 30 years ago continues to resonate as it really speaks to the lasting life a song can have when people connect with it. I love seeing someone like Post put his own spin on it like he does with everything he records.” The country star added that Malone “always has a fresh way to say things.” “I love that he changed ‘the Dolphins make me cry’ to ‘the Cowboys,’” Rucker said. He also shared some advice for other artists performing covers, saying, “I would say the key is just to always have fun with it and make the song your own.”

After the song was released, Malone, who is good friends with Rucker, shared a photo of the two together sans caption.

Rucker recently reached a major milestone as a solo artist when he earned his 10th solo No. 1 with his latest single, “Beers and Sunshine. “To have 10 No. 1s is incredible,” he said. “I just wanted a shot at making music I loved when I first came to Nashville, so I’m really grateful to still be connecting with people all these years later. And to hit that milestone the same week Post covered one of my first songs is a really special full-circle moment. We’re working on the next country project, now, finishing that up this summer, and hopefully will put out a full album before the end of the year. I’m ready.”