Kitsch or Art?

The performance is merely a superficial imitation of the song by Kansas yet at the same time there is an undeniable quality and skill to the performance itself. Even though the method or mode of interpretation is decidedly...unique .

I'll be straightforward: I lean most decidedly towards kitsch. However, the performance does leads me to the question what is role of the interpreter's skill in art. Is the label "art" inclusive to when the work is done with skill and beauty but decidedly derivative if not outright imitation? If not, how do artists inform and influence each other? Why is it still an "acceptable" expression of art to interpret classical music but not the popular form of rock of music?

Whatever the answers are, there is something ridiculously sublime about this performance.

Piper on Authentic Worship

"Let me mention here that this does not mean that worship is authentic only when you are red-hot for God. It can mean that when you are not red-hot, your heart feels a longing for the passion that you once knew or want to know more of. That longing, offered to God, is also worship. Or it can mean remorse that even the longing is gone, and you are scarcely able to feel anything but sadness that you don't feel what you should. That remorse, offered to God, is also worship. It says to God that he is the only hope for what you need. So don't have an all-or-nothing attitude about worship. The heart can be real even if it is not as enflamed with zeal as it ought to be - which it never is in this life."

John Piper – Singing and Making Melody to the Lord