As covers go, Weezer taking on Toni Braxton‘s 1996 smash ballad, “Un-Break My Heart” (which spent 11 weeks at number one), is a relatively odd one. On paper, Braxton and Weezer would appear to be complete musical opposites. One imagines there isn’t much crossover between the artists’ fan bases, though I proudly raise my hand from within the shared sliver of the Venn diagram.

Weezer’s cover of “Un-Break My Heart” appears on the just-released rarities collection, Death To False Metal. The song dates back to 2005, when the alt rockers were in the studio with producer Rick Rubin, recording Make Believe. Weezer’s frontman, Rivers Cuomo, recently gave American Songwriter the scoop on the band’s Braxton revamp:

“I loved that song. It was actually Rick Rubin’s suggestion. We both loved that song and we both thought it would be great for Weezer, and for my voice, and it’d be great to do like a rock version of it with more of an alternative aesthetic. And you know, just the way I would sing it versus in the way Toni Braxton would sing it. And I love the way it came out, and I think probably the rest of the band really does not like it, and that’s probably why it didn’t make our fifth record, in 2005 when we were recording it.”

Just as Rubin famously cajoled Johnny Cash to cover Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” to great late-career success, the Grammy-winning producer was spot-on with his proposal to Weezer. Cuomo sells the despair at the core of “Un-Break My Heart” surprisingly well, and when he goes falsetto, that’s when the song’s heartbreak really hits home. After all, the Diane Warren-penned tune captures a universal feeling, one anyone should be able to relate to, whether you’ve been twice bankrupted by the R&B world, or alternatively pal around with Miss Piggy and the fat guy from Lost.

Some enterprising YouTuber has mashed-up Toni Braxton’s video for “Un-Break My Heart” (which stars model Tyson Beckford) with Weezer’s audio:

Purchase Weezer – “Un-Break My Heart” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.