I don’t know what it is, but this year’s US Summer music releases are brighter, poppier, and catchier than ever… their recent circuit on Australian radio has had me toe-tapping, head-banging and singing along all day. From Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass“, to Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj’s “Bang Bang” and AJR’s “I’m Ready“, these releases have the teenage fangirl in me jumping up and down in a bucket of pink vanilla-scented joy.
I had never heard of New Yorker brother-band AJR prior to the release of their Spongebob Squarepants-sampled track (besides a scattering of mentions on my twitter feed), but the slight genre jumps within the song, the sweet, sweet crooning of the three brothers and the addition of the lovably annoying Spongebob sample had me hooked within the first 20 seconds of my listening experience. Being the millennium that I am, I whipped out my phone to google the song, and discovered that, alike many of today’s other successful acts, their mainstream success stemmed off the success of their viral covers and originals on YouTube. As well as that, they tweeted their song to a myriad of the world’s leading artists, and it just so happens that Australia’s own musical genius, Sia Furler, acknowledged the band, getting them into contact with former president of Columbia Records, Steve Greenberg, who is now their co-manager.
The accompanying video to the song highlights the impact social media and web 2.0 platforms has had on not just their career, but on the music industry in general. It’s pretty fun to watch! Check it out and let me know what you think:
Haha woah coincidence I brought them up with you today! So addicted to that song!
omg I thought you brought them up because of my blog post!!