Hey, kids, rock 'n' roll.

I don't care how rude Thom Yorke was to me when I complimented him on his fuzzy sweater before he was about to open for REM on their Monster Tour in 1995, The Bends remains to this day my favorite Radiohead album. Conversely, REM's Automatic for the People—despite the copious accolades it's received over the years or the many passionate arguments into which numerous REM fans have forced me on the topic—remains one of my most-hated albums of all time. So, yeah, it appears that I have at least The Bends thing in common with J-pop singer/songwriter Maika Shiratori. And speaking of Ms. Shiratori, I can't tell you much about her beyond the fact that she's Japanese and studied at Cambridge, which I learned from this mini-bio whose author is oblivious to the fact that he or she got her name backward.

Maika Shiratori "Fake Plastic Trees" (Radiohead cover)

Maika Shiratori "Drive" (REM cover)