1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,520 Best New Artist has never been more competitive, from breakout 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:07,360 artists having massive hits to longtime musicians finally 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,920 getting that mainstream recognition they deserve. 4 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:14,120 We have a girl group nominated for the first time in 10 years. 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,160 We have two boys nominated with the two biggest songs when a boy 6 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,760 hasn't won in eight years. And even artists like Addison 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:26,480 Rae, who pulled out the rebrand of a century and sold the world 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,520 on her vision as more than just creator. 9 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,320 But in true artists with a vision that is here to stay, 10 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,840 there is truly no clear front runner the way that there has 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,480 been for most years in the past. So I thought it would be 12 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:41,120 interesting to sit down and look at the data. 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,200 Who actually has the biggest song, the biggest album, the 14 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,000 biggest listeners, and find out who is most likely to win? 15 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,280 Why would they win? What was their big cultural 16 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,560 moment? Or if not, what is holding that 17 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:54,800 artist back? What did they miss to really 18 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,560 breakthrough to that next pedestal and win? 19 00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:59,960 And after that, we're going to lock in our prediction for what 20 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,800 that I think is going to be the best new artist. 21 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:04,519 So with that, welcome back to Nikki and I. 22 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:08,400 I'm your host, Nikki Reardon long time awaited Grammy episode 23 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,400 as I have gotten many, many requests to do. 24 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:13,840 I don't know, I just like I talked about it so much on like 25 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,840 TikTok and stuff like kind of like felt that I settled and I 26 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,040 need to say for the time, but now I really want to talk about 27 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,360 best new artist. It is my favorite category. 28 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,560 If you all have known as a long time viewer of the show, I think 29 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:27,840 it's by far the most interesting. 30 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,520 I think it's by far the hardest to predict the nominees for. 31 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,200 I think it's the hardest to pick the winner for great in some 32 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:34,280 years. Like last year, I just knew 33 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,600 Chapel was going to win. But you know, this is a year 34 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,880 that's so exciting. I also think what's really cool 35 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,360 about best new artists is a category is one of the few 36 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,880 genres where they really intentionally cast like genre 37 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:51,080 diversity or really, really try to make it a a broad spectrum 38 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,440 reflective of who is up and coming in music and all of their 39 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,080 respective scenes. Which one of the very 40 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,600 interesting things I want to talk about no rap artist this 41 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:05,040 year and no country artist this year, which is crazy. 42 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,840 Like those are the two definitively biggest genres 43 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,800 outside of pop. And for that's not happened is 44 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,200 really, really insane. Granted, like a lot of the 45 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,080 people here did have like some bigger moments and songs and 46 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,200 things than some other artists, but that really shocked me and 47 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:21,880 isn't an interesting state of music. 48 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,440 You know, that the fact that the entire recording Academy 49 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:30,120 couldn't find a, a unanimous rapper or, or country artist 50 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,520 that qualified for best new artist this year to, to rally 51 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,080 around in that way. I don't know. 52 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,640 I, I just think it's a very, very fascinating thing. 53 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:40,760 We're seeing so much of, of music shift and change that I 54 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:42,880 wanted to talk about this and go through all of the nominees. 55 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,280 Hey, don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're here. 56 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,280 You know, I did see an interesting statistic on my 57 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,720 YouTube studio that like 90% of the people who have ever watched 58 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,840 my videos have not hit the subscribe button. 59 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,760 So check if you have, you know, come join, come hang out. 60 00:02:57,760 --> 00:02:59,520 I'm going to talk about the Grammys more. 61 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,920 We love music here. I got good stuff coming up. 62 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:05,400 I want to talk about Marty Supreme, like come hang out. 63 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,480 Hey, follow the Spotify too. Follow us on Apple pods, 64 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,600 whatever you got to do. You know, you can listen to all 65 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,000 of the audio versions of these episodes on your car way to work 66 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,400 at the gym. It is such a huge thing for 67 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,240 supporting it. Seriously, please, if you're 68 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,600 listening on Spotify now, make sure that you're following there 69 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,760 also, again, another statistic. Oh Speaking of Spotify, we got 70 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:26,960 Spotify wrapped. I was the number one show for 71 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,240 42,000 people. That's crazy. 72 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,880 That's crazy. I cried, I seriously cried. 73 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,160 And so many people like to tag me on their stories and stuff 74 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,000 and sharing that and it's just the most amazing thing ever. 75 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,720 I can't believe I was so shocked. 76 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,360 I was so shocked because like the show on Spotify only has 77 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,280 $15,000. Like people don't really follow 78 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,360 on Spotify as a metric. They just like TuneIn, everyone 79 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,480 smile, you know what I mean? And I, I was blown back. 80 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,280 I was, I could not believe it and I, it was like just I, it 81 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,960 made my, it was I, I can't put into words how much it meant to 82 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,360 be and how much people spend time with me and how much time 83 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:06,800 with me. Like you're changing my life, 84 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:07,640 dude. Thank you. 85 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,040 I love doing this. And that's why I really want to, 86 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,480 you know, continue growing like the podcast version and stuff 87 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:17,839 like that so we can get more guests and get more support and 88 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:19,560 production support so I can do more episodes. 89 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,360 And you know what I mean? Just all of that, like the more 90 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:23,480 it grows, the bigger it gets and the more that can happen with 91 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,240 it. And I was so honoured. 92 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:28,480 I I just love it. Also when you guys like tag me 93 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,760 on your stories and stuff. I'd love to see like how you are 94 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,240 when you are like watching that episode or listening to that 95 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,680 episode. Like people will like show 96 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,000 they're like eating dinner or something while watching. 97 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:41,760 I love it. Please do it. 98 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,680 Please tag me if I ever see them. 99 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,560 I always try to repost them because it just makes me so 100 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,200 happy. So yeah, do it. 101 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,400 Tag me on Instagram. If you do say hi, share your 102 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,320 Spotify rapped if I was in it with that, we're going to talk 103 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:54,520 about some best new artists this year. 104 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,920 OK, there are 8 of them. I'm going to talk about it from 105 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,400 a data perspective, also a bit from a culturally perspective. 106 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,040 So we're gonna start with Somber. 107 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,760 Somber has 53,000,000 monthly listeners. 108 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,640 He peaked around 60, which is I believe the highest on this 109 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:11,120 list, which is very, very impressive. 110 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,320 His biggest song is Back to Friends with 1.4 billion 111 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,120 streams. His second biggest song is 112 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,480 Undressed with 600 million streams. 113 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,000 However, his second fastest growing song is 12 to 12, which 114 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,400 is like maybe my favorite Somber song and I think really shows 115 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,040 that there's like more there. You know what I mean? 116 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,640 Like this is his very like sad boy, emo boy alternative era, 117 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,040 but twelve. I was like, oh, you could do 118 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,520 like a little disco number, like you can make you can make some 119 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,840 fun dance music, and I love that people are really getting into 120 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:43,760 it in that way. I also think Somber is what I 121 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,760 love about Somber is that he did not try to copy the Harry Styles 122 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,760 blueprint. Every man ever tried to be Harry 123 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,160 Styles and and put on some random jumpsuit to the point 124 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,480 where like it was annoying. And I love that Somber pulls so 125 00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,640 much inspiration from bands from Julia Casablancas from the 1975, 126 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,960 from The Strokes. Even his music is more adjacent 127 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,400 to like alternative music, rock music, like that. 128 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,320 It even is pop. I would say like if he existed 129 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,120 10 years ago, I don't think we would call him a pop star. 130 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,560 But now that's what pop is, you know, it it's so 131 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:18,160 all-encompassing. It reminds me of like the 132 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:20,480 neighborhood even I think would be a great example. 133 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,440 And I think that's so amazing for young people to have now 134 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,960 like they spent so much time decades plus, like without their 135 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,960 own teenage version of the 1975 that we all got to have, right? 136 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,880 And like, that's why I think it's so cool that he has a young 137 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:36,800 fan base. You know what I mean? 138 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,440 Like I remember that was like being a criticism of like somber 139 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,680 fans are so young. Good, like good. 140 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,120 We had Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake and Harry Styles. 141 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,800 They don't have that anymore. Like 12 year old girls are 142 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,600 fantasizing about like a 30 year old man. 143 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,600 And I want them to like have somebody reflective of their age 144 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:53,760 and their experiences and their memes. 145 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,480 Do a 6-7 meme that's funny to people today like that. 146 00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:59,800 It's for them. It doesn't have to be for you. 147 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:01,440 Like it can still be great music. 148 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,000 And he's so freaking talented. Did you know that Somber solo 149 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,160 wrote and produced Back to Friends and he solo wrote the 150 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,040 entire album. There's only one person with 151 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,080 production credits in the entirety of the thing, which is 152 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:16,640 Tony Bird. Everything else he either solo 153 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,080 produced and the entirety of it he solo wrote, which is insane. 154 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,040 A teenager went from like effectively 0 monthly listeners 155 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,000 to 60 million within a year. A song with a billion streams. 156 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,600 I think he just did his first like arena show. 157 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,720 That is amazing. Like he is a very talented 158 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:34,400 artist. You know, people love to talk 159 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,280 about how you know, it's insane that Taylor Swift writes her own 160 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,440 music or it's so insane that Billy, you know, just produces 161 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,840 with her brother and stuff. I'm like, somber is doing that, 162 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,440 you know, like even if you don't like aren't a personal huge fan 163 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,520 of somber, like you cannot disregard the talent. 164 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,440 That is something that pisses me off about the Internet these 165 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,800 days is like when people don't like someone, therefore they are 166 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:56,720 untalented and stupid. Like you can't just be like, oh, 167 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:58,200 I don't really like what they're doing that much. 168 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,320 They are like everything about time is bad instead of like, you 169 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:03,400 know, maybe I'm not the biggest fan of so and So's music, but 170 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:04,720 like, they're an incredible singer. 171 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:06,360 You know what I mean? Like that more than one thing 172 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,080 could be true at the same time. That is really annoying me about 173 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,040 some of the song for criticism because I think he's so 174 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,080 ridiculously talented. And if you actually like look 175 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:17,520 into it, it, it is a undeniable like the the amount of musical 176 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,120 talent and and the way he's constructed this album. 177 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,440 What do I think could hold somber back? 178 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:26,320 I mean, I think what was getting what would get in there is Back 179 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:28,640 to Frency is one of the biggest songs of the entire year. 180 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:30,920 He has had mass again. I think he just plays first 181 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,000 arena show. I think he is just on a rocket 182 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,520 ship truly. I would love if he won because 183 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,200 again, a man has not won in eight years and like we need 184 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:43,559 some sort of new alternative boy for young people. 185 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,040 Like, I really think that that is an important space to be 186 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:50,200 filled in music right now. What I think would be holding 187 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:54,080 him back is I think Somber has this interesting thing with his 188 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,960 marketing where so much of it is geared around his sense of humor 189 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:59,240 and him being very funny and charismatic. 190 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:01,080 And you know, like the 6-7 means and that sort of thing. 191 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,080 It's like very for young chronically online young people, 192 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,000 which we love. As somebody who was once a 193 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,960 chronically online young person, however, his music is a complete 194 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,920 opposite perspective. It is very, very sad. 195 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,200 It is very, very yearning. It is very, very heartbroken. 196 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,120 And I think to a lot of people that makes them feel like 2 197 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,960 completely different things. They feel like there's this like 198 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,440 online funny. He, he kid somber and then you 199 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,160 listen to the music and you're like, who is this sad yearning 200 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:30,440 man? Like talking about this woman 201 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,640 and, and how she decimated him and, and he can't, he doesn't 202 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,480 know how to go back to being friends with her, right? 203 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,320 And what he's struggled with is finding a way to connect the two 204 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:43,040 to be like, yeah, I am both of those things. 205 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,680 The way I express that heartbreak is through the music. 206 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:49,320 And and the way I express my personality is through humor. 207 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,760 And I think I know that as somebody who's like, really 208 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:54,360 studied him and studied his marketing a lot. 209 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,080 But I think to the general consensus that it feels like 210 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,040 like when I ask people about somber, they feel like one of 211 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,320 those things is fake, right? They either are like, Oh, I hate 212 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,480 the tik toks and it's so Kitty and it's you know, like I I wish 213 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,520 he would just like be this musician or there are people who 214 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:11,840 like love the humor and love that. 215 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,680 And they're like, I don't this this the yearning and the 216 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:16,400 writing sounds fake. Like I don't even know if he was 217 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,160 in a relationship because he's like all laughing and blah, 218 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:20,000 blah, blah. Do you know what I mean? 219 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,160 Like I think he needs to find a way to connect to those 220 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:28,120 narratives and be like, that is somber, you know, and it's an 221 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,480 interesting thing. Again, you know, his his name is 222 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,360 literally somber. Like it means like sadness, 223 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,240 darkness. Also, I think something that 224 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,880 could hold him back, which, you know, I've talked about this. 225 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:40,960 I don't I don't, I think that this is a good decision. 226 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,200 It's just annoying. Weird way to the Grammys works. 227 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,280 So the Grammys cut off is August 30th every year. 228 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:48,000 It does not go through the full calendar year. 229 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,280 It's August 30th to the next August 30th. 230 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:52,080 I don't know exactly why that is. 231 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:53,920 I couldn't tell you. That's just the way it is. 232 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,400 Somber, I think knew that he had such two of the biggest, you 233 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,640 know, singles of the year was on a really big rocket ship. 234 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:05,840 And I think that the label and him made a decision to put out a 235 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,200 really, really short album. It was only 10 songs. 236 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,080 And I don't think was fully not that the songs are unfinished, 237 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,480 but I think that he would have added either added more to them 238 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,640 or just added more songs or more range in general. 239 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,840 But they did it because the week that they did, because I think 240 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,080 the week after Taylor Swift was releasing, which nobody can 241 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,160 release the week of Taylor Swift because you can't chart at all. 242 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,640 And so they decided to just like we're going to go with what we 243 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,520 have because if we go now, then it can be eligible for Grammy 244 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,440 submissions. And if they didn't do that, it 245 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,400 wouldn't, it wouldn't be eligible, which is something 246 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,360 I'll talk about with Olivia Dean later, because technically this 247 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,000 Olivia Dean album does not count for this Grammy cycle, which is 248 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,240 something interesting we'll get into. 249 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:47,280 So yeah, I think that that was like a decision made by the 250 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:48,680 team. I think that that's probably the 251 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,040 right decision, honestly. Like if I was consulting for the 252 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:54,200 artist, I'd be like, yeah, like it's, it's kind of annoying and 253 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:55,680 unfortunate, but like, go for it. 254 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:59,200 So I think because of that, you know, like the more like music 255 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,200 critiques I've read, like Billboard and stuff talking 256 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,600 about Somber's album is they feel like that there was not as 257 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,080 much range or, you know, as much vision, whatever. 258 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,520 The the visuals I don't think were as like deeply thought out 259 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:12,040 as a lot of the singles covers were. 260 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,320 I think that's what I had to do. And so I think that was the 261 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,400 right decision. Next, we're moving into my 262 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,760 queen, my icon, Addison Rae. Dream guest of the show. 263 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:25,440 Dream guest of the show. And the day I get Addison Rae in 264 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,760 this room, you guys are going to be sick of me. 265 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,080 Sick of me. Oh my God, Oh my God. 266 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,240 I'll cry and hug and jump up and down and dress like a mermaid 267 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:36,240 for aquamarine. Are you kidding? 268 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,560 Of course. And do a live performance of it 269 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:42,040 myself. She has 13.9 million monthly 270 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:44,760 listeners, one of the lower on this list, which is interesting 271 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,920 because I would argue that she's one of the biggest fandoms on 272 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:48,120 this list like and she's selling. 273 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,600 She's had massive shows I saw with the Greek, which is bigger 274 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,040 than a lot of other artists can do. 275 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,560 Her biggest song is Diet Pepsi with 591,000,000 streams. 276 00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:59,960 And I'm going to be honest, when I was talking to my friends 277 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,600 about this and made my prediction list, I didn't think 278 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,320 Addison would get in because I thought that the sort of like, 279 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:11,280 music snobby critics of the Recording Academy type would not 280 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,160 be into her. It turns out that I could not 281 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,000 have been more wrong. They are obsessed with her. 282 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:23,560 Pitchfork put headphones on on their as #4 on their top 100 283 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,680 best songs of the year, which is crazy. 284 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:28,440 Pitchfork. It's like one of the most, you 285 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:34,280 know, critic based publications and you know, I think she has 286 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:38,440 some of the best pop production of the entire year. 287 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,200 I mean, like the the way she just had a concept and nailed 288 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,640 it. Like every song is so exactly 289 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,040 right. Like the way the beginning of 290 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:50,040 fame is a gun, an aquamarine, like it's just enchanting. 291 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,520 It pulls you in. Like it's like I can't skip it 292 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:54,000 when it comes on shuffle, you know what I mean? 293 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,520 Like it it is intoxicating. It's it's so, so good. 294 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,960 And I think she again, really found this like way to do this 295 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,520 sort of psychedelic pop, but it still remains pretty upbeat most 296 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,720 of the time or up tempo or gives you that positive emotion, which 297 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:11,480 is really cool. I love this sort of, you know, 298 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:16,160 like trip hop, very psychedelic production coming back. 299 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:17,960 Like the Maria is another great example of the whole somebody 300 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,840 who's like really psychedelic that I like and you know, I 301 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:22,560 loved it. I know she found her lane and I 302 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:27,000 think she is, you know, you can see the love of Brittany, but it 303 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,920 doesn't feel like a RIP off. You can see the love of Bjork, 304 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,280 but it doesn't feel or Madonna. You know what I mean? 305 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,720 Like I I so clearly feel her inspirations and why she likes 306 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:38,120 those artists and what she's pulling from them. 307 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:43,000 But in a way that's so Addison. I think her aestheticism in her 308 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:47,120 visuals are so her and so referential of like people who 309 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:48,880 grew up in the 20 tens like I did. 310 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,080 I also think I I think Addison Rae had the best live 311 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:55,240 performance of any artist I have seen this year. 312 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,040 It was insane one. I've never seen a crowd so 313 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:02,560 excited and locked in. I loved that she was just her. 314 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,800 Like there was no there wasn't 100 dancers, there wasn't a set, 315 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:07,640 nothing. I actually think the coolest 316 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,040 thing about the show was she did have budget for a set, and she 317 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,040 only used it for the gate at the beginning. 318 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,880 Like there's a gate that starts at the beginning of the show 319 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,560 before she's even on stage, like while everyone's waiting. 320 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,680 And then when she starts, it goes away. 321 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,920 Like she chose to use her budget on that, on something that 322 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:29,080 creates anticipation. And just her raw aura can fill 323 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,640 up the stage in such a way that is magnificent. 324 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,000 And then Diet Pepsi ends with like the big sparks. 325 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:36,800 Oh, it was the best show I've seen all year. 326 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:38,960 I was obsessed. What do I think would hold 327 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:43,040 Addison back from winning? I guess I mean, I don't know. 328 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:46,400 Diet Pepsi is a hit. I I just think what's really 329 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,400 tough is that there's a lot of really good female pop this 330 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,280 year. And something that happens with 331 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,840 the Grammys is that a lot of the times when there's a lot of 332 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,840 really good contenders in the same sort of lane slash 333 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:03,920 category, what happens is the vote gets divided and fought up 334 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:06,560 amongst them and then something else wins. 335 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,240 You know, like I feel like a really great example of this was 336 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,480 album of the Year last year, Cowie Carter, incredible Art 337 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:14,000 Room. I love cowboy quarter. 338 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,760 I made an entire video about it, but you know, it was like hit me 339 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,120 hard and soft rise involvement risen W Prince says short and 340 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:26,880 sweet brat for incredible mass and Taylor Swift massive pop 341 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,400 albums, right, and what 1 was a country album. 342 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,120 You know what I mean? Like it's all of if you like if 343 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,280 you like country, if country is your number one genre and you're 344 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,000 just like, I'm going to like the country album more than a pop 345 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,240 album. Just a in the in a vacuum 346 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,080 majority of the time, like that's when something like that 347 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,200 will win, you know what I mean? So I could see something like 348 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:46,800 that happening with this with pop this year because there's so 349 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:51,360 many good female pop stars that it ends up going somewhere else. 350 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:56,360 I also could see again too, that like a lot of the like Addison 351 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,360 Rae is not for straight men. Like so is the Grant, like are 352 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,520 those types of guys and people in the recording Academy going 353 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,800 to vote for it? I don't know if she won. 354 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:10,079 I will buy a lottery ticket, I will scream, anything is 355 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:13,440 possible. I will break into the old hype. 356 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:18,520 I don't know, I don't know, I would be so happy #3 is Cat's 357 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:20,319 Eye. How many of you notice? 358 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,119 Be honest, don't lie. How long did it take you? 359 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:25,880 Yes, this is from the Gap commercial. 360 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,680 Kansai has 33 million monthly listeners. 361 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,920 Their biggest song is actually Thai Gabriella and Touch, which 362 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,080 both have 504,000,000 streams. I was very surprised it wasn't 363 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,920 gnarly, which is 376,000,000 because I feel like that's the 364 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,600 song that gets talked about the most and like memes the most or 365 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:43,480 maybe the biggest in the fandom. I genuinely believe Cats. 366 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,120 I got best new artist from the Gap commercial. 367 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:50,040 I am so serious. I think that was the defining 368 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,160 moment. Like the fact that that broke 369 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,080 the record for the biggest ad Gap has ever done in its 370 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,920 history. There are like fan posts of it 371 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,840 that have 5 million likes and like 50 million views. 372 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,560 Like it was just intoxicating. It started trend, it was 373 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,160 everywhere. Like so many people I knew that 374 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:14,080 are very casual music fans or just not into pop like that. 375 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,240 That was their moment of discovering Cat's Eye and being 376 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:19,400 like, who are these girls serving? 377 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,640 You know what I mean? Which I absolutely love. 378 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,520 And and I think it would be so iconic and it is iconic that 379 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:27,840 they had a culturally defining moment through a commercial. 380 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,440 That's crazy. That is so rare to do. 381 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,440 Incredible from the Band, incredible from Robbie Blue and 382 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,440 his choreography, incredible from all those girls and they're 383 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:39,880 performing capability and incredible for the team on Gap 384 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,000 for really figuring that out and and taking a chance on them. 385 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:45,160 Also another thing that's fascinating and it's another 386 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,200 huge moment for them is they actually broke the record for 387 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,520 the largest daytime set at Lollapalooza and had 80,000 388 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,880 people showing up at 3:00 PM, which is crazy, crazy, crazy. 389 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,640 Here is some interesting things that I have about cats. 390 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:02,640 I I love cats. I am a Stan. 391 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,200 But I do think what's holding them back is the music. 392 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,000 I think what they're doing right now is very cutesy. 393 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,160 I think it's very concept songs. I think they're very fun, but 394 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:17,080 like the talent of those girls versus the simplicity of a lot 395 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,160 of their music is not there. Like the music needs to elevate. 396 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,040 They're at this weird crossroads where Katzai is huge in America, 397 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:25,840 much, much, much bigger than America than they ever 398 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,480 anticipated in them to be. I think they're smaller in Korea 399 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:29,800 than they anticipated them to be. 400 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,040 And what's interesting is a lot of stuff that works in Korea is 401 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,760 these very like cutesy, gimmicky songs. 402 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,240 So much of, I mean, they don't write their own music, you know 403 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:39,480 what I mean? Like that's what K Pop is. 404 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,080 It's very, it's produced. It's very like made. 405 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:48,080 And I think what we want is Cat's Eye to have a bit more 406 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,480 personality, have a bit more soul, have a bit more range in 407 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,400 the music itself. But there is I think like maybe 408 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,320 this this friction of like what has worked for K Pop and what 409 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:01,840 will work in Korea versus what everybody in America wants them 410 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,600 to be. I think most people feel about 411 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,200 Cat's Eye right now is like, we love them. 412 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,840 We are obsessed with them. I want to see them perform live, 413 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,600 but I'm not streaming Gabriella on repeat everyday. 414 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,000 Just that's what they're going to have to overcome in order to 415 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,920 get there. Something also that I really 416 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,320 want to talk about with Cat's Eye is like Hat's Eye is proof 417 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,360 of why labels need to bring back real artist development. 418 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,240 Like they put these girls in a two year training camp where 419 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,600 they were dancing with professional dancers, practicing 420 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,080 their vocals, being around other performers and artists to learn 421 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,360 from one another, made a documentary about it. 422 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,160 And like everybody's like, wow, they're so talented. 423 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:42,920 Wow. And they're so amazing. 424 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,200 Like, yes, that's what an artist development is. 425 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,440 That used to be a thing that all labels did all the time. 426 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:51,720 You can look like Google the stories about, you know, like 427 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:53,880 when they signed Bruno Mars or when they signed Sizza or 428 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,480 Kendrick versus like when these people debuted. 429 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,080 Like they would spend years like giving them training, helping 430 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,440 them, you know, putting them in rooms of songwriters, helping 431 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,880 them dance, helping them sing, like whatever sort of thing, 432 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,520 crafting a brand around them. And that is something that 433 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,440 labels just do not do anymore because it's not as profitable. 434 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:16,560 It is this weird issue that happened when a bunch of the 435 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:18,880 music labels became publicly traded companies, right? 436 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,920 They, they IPO and they had stocks and back in the day, you 437 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,080 know that when you're a private company, you can just agree that 438 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,000 like, yeah, someone who's a star. 439 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,560 And we think they're amazing and we're going to fund them for two 440 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:32,920 years. We're going to put them in all 441 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,200 this dance and all this training and all these things to make 442 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,000 them like, you know, you Polish the diamond until they are ready 443 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,880 to like go out and make music and go on tour and do all these 444 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:43,560 things. Right. 445 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,280 And the era of TikTok was just like quick sign, quick. 446 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,040 Oh, they're having him. We have to be the first to sign 447 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:49,760 them. And then and then the they 448 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,800 wouldn't do as well and they drop them in a year, right? 449 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,760 Or drop them in two years. Like we just, we, we started to 450 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,520 view these people as like a cycle and, and disposable 451 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:03,080 instead of investments, instead of artists that needed to be 452 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,320 poured into and cultivated. Like artistry doesn't happen 453 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,760 overnight. Artistry is developed, it 454 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,920 changes, it's very fluid, it evolves as the person evolves. 455 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:17,680 And there that doesn't fit into this capitalistic structure of 456 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,240 a, of an IPO, right? Like where you have to give 457 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:22,840 quarterly reportings and you have to talk about how you made 458 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,200 this much money, you're going to make more money next year than 459 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,320 you did last year, right? That is this thing that has 460 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,760 happened with labels and, and it's a terrible thing with the 461 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,800 industry of music too, because like Republic Records and like 462 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,080 you have a Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande album in the same 463 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,960 year, next year, you're not going to make as much money. 464 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,440 You're just not, they're two of the big top five biggest artists 465 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,680 of all time, right? Like you're just not going to 466 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,320 make as much money. It doesn't mean the label's a 467 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:46,680 failure. It doesn't mean that they're 468 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,000 doing things wrong. It's just like they had two 469 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,800 artists released a year before that, right? 470 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,160 And that's a good thing. But like, that doesn't fit into 471 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,280 this like capitalistic structure of the way stocks work and, and 472 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,720 the way people want to invest and have this, you know, ever 473 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,440 growing line of investment. And that has impacted the way 474 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,400 that they're able to develop artists and fun artists. 475 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:07,200 And it's really sad. I've talked to a lot of people 476 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,280 in music about this. A lot of my I have many friends 477 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,760 are like executives or director levels of music, and they've 478 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:17,560 talked about how they have felt that shift since their labels IP 479 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,520 OED because there's no you can't, you don't get time 480 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,280 anymore, you know, like, you know, if the artist doesn't make 481 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,240 enough money in the first year or two, like they got to drop 482 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,000 them and and use and pick someone else up and that has 483 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,520 made it. So I think it's just sucks. 484 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,760 But I hope Cat's eye is an example of this. 485 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,120 I hope that they realize K pop still does it all the time, 486 00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:37,560 right? Like they do all these trainings 487 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,280 and things and K pop has a lot of other problems the way they 488 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,240 treat artists in other ways. But I hope it is just a sign of 489 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,240 like the importance of of development and training because 490 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,440 you see how well it worked. Next we have Olivia Dean. 491 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,040 She has 55,000,000 monthly listeners. 492 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,000 Currently. Her biggest song is Man, I need 493 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,560 with 484,000,000 streams. Now this is the very interesting 494 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:04,520 thing about Olivia Dean is that technically this album, The Art 495 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,720 of Loving does not count for this Grammy cycle. 496 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:12,080 It came out in September and the cut off is August 30th. 497 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,520 So the singles that came out before me and I Need and Nice to 498 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,640 Each Other, which are her two biggest songs, which is good, do 499 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,560 count because they came out before the window. 500 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,320 However, technically speaking, nothing from this album should 501 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,480 count. However, I feel like people in 502 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,560 the recording Academy sometimes kind of bend those rules, you 503 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:31,040 know what I mean? Or at the very least like the 504 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,040 bias takes over. They are just so loving the 505 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,680 artist and loving the work and even though they know that so 506 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,240 and so thing like a song like So easy to Fall in love is 507 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,680 shouldn't be counting for this, but they just love it so much 508 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,400 and love her so much. They and mentally are like 509 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,560 adding those points and still, you know what I mean? 510 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:51,360 That's an interesting thing. And again, like, I don't know, I 511 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:52,760 don't know how much that will hurt her. 512 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,200 I can't really say I don't know enough. 513 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,840 It really just depends on these random people who vote, you 514 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,320 know, So like, it could end up being one of those things where 515 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,360 people really are really are like Olivia Dean, amazing, love 516 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:06,640 her. Everything she's doing is great. 517 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,080 But this album wasn't part of this. 518 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:09,920 So, you know, I'll vote for her next year, but I can't vote for 519 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,560 her now or people would just not care and be like, I fucking love 520 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,280 Olivia Dean. I'm going to vote for her. 521 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:17,320 It it is literally, I don't know. 522 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,640 I think she probably has the most momentum of any artists on 523 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,120 this list right now. I feel like she is just 524 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,360 everywhere on my For you page when I open my phone. 525 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:30,080 It's like everybody is really in this process of discovering her 526 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,840 right now. I think the art of loving is one 527 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,240 of the best albums of this year for sure. 528 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:38,280 You know, she just came off the Torah Sabrina, which was huge 529 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,200 for her. And also I really see her as 530 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,360 like, I feel like the real music lovers love her. 531 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:46,240 You know what I mean? I think she's feeling this void 532 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:50,320 of just happy, loving music that is so great, such feel good 533 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,360 music that is so great. But she also has these moments 534 00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:57,160 of real vocal power almost, you know, some some sort of like 535 00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,440 Adele inspired songs in in the album that I love. 536 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,160 I think her aura and everything about her is just magnificent. 537 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,680 Like you just want to be her best friend. 538 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:10,040 But I feel like I barely know about her as a person, which is 539 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,400 a really interesting thing. I know she's from the UK because 540 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,480 of her accent. I don't know much I like, I 541 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,000 don't feel like she really talks about herself. 542 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,000 She isn't really like, like I, I just don't know anything about 543 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,880 her as a person and what she likes, you know, like when, when 544 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,720 it comes to me, like falling in love with an artist, I love a a 545 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,520 story and a narrative, you know what I mean? 546 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,440 Like, even someone like like an Addison who is very publicly 547 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,360 shit on for her, for her TP and all that, you know, like, I like 548 00:26:37,360 --> 00:26:40,000 that she was that she talked about it, that she talked about 549 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,920 like, yeah, people did not like that, but I believed in myself. 550 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,240 So I'm going to push through this and, and do this thing. 551 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:47,120 Like her interview on the podcast is incredible. 552 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:48,960 You know what I mean? Like Olivia Dean, I just feel 553 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:50,640 like I haven't had, I haven't seen as much moments with those 554 00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:53,840 from that from her. Maybe I it's just hasn't popped 555 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,400 up on my like for you page or my recommended or whatever my 556 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,760 YouTube. But like, that's really what I 557 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:00,920 want more from her. I'm sold on the mute. 558 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:02,560 Like all in couldn't be more all in. 559 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,040 But I think that in terms of like building her career as an 560 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,280 artist, her team really needs to do a lot more to push the 561 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,000 narrative in the story of Olivia Dean. 562 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:13,240 Who is she? Where did she come from? 563 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,760 Where is she going? Why is this meaningful to her? 564 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,640 I don't know, you guys tell me. Next we have Lily Young who has 565 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,280 29.3 million monthly listeners. Her song, her biggest song, is 566 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,760 Messy that has 950 million streams. 567 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:29,840 Something interesting I will say is that this album did not have 568 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,960 that same level of impact. You know, it goes from a 950 569 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,480 million stream song to the next biggest song is one thing with 570 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,400 120 million streams and that I don't think any other song on 571 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,320 the album has hit that 100 million streams mark yet. 572 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:47,200 I think she is an unreal vocalist. 573 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:51,160 Like so much incredible power in those vocals that she isn't even 574 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,440 like in some ways she taps into this album, but she could go 575 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,600 harder than she did. But I also kind of love that. 576 00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,880 I love that she's a lot of still like British rock influence type 577 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:01,560 songs on the album and stuff like that. 578 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,160 And I also think that her getting injured and not being 579 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:08,120 able to like tour and stuff anymore has a huge impact on 580 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,520 that. The album not picking up as much 581 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,360 as it did because so much of getting people, I think to 582 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:18,000 discover the meat of an album comes through live performances. 583 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,840 You know, they they know the one or two or three big hits, but 584 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,040 then they go to the concert and they're like, wait, what was 585 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,080 that song again? I was dancing to that like, 586 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:25,920 well, what, you know what I mean? 587 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,560 And losing out on that moment, I think was really, really big. 588 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:30,760 But also with Lola, I think something that's holding her 589 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,760 back is there's no clear branding there to me. 590 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,920 There's no, it's hard to latch onto you. 591 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,080 I don't know what I would wear to a Lola Young concert. 592 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,800 She didn't really have this defined like persona or style or 593 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,880 aesthetic or color or you know what I mean? 594 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,160 And it's very interesting that she's at the same label as 595 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,280 someone like a Sabrina Carpenter who is so packaged, like the 596 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,280 most brandable branded artist of all time is Sabrina Carpenter. 597 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,200 It's why I reference her all the time, because I think she just 598 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,240 has such a stark visual example of a lot of these things I try 599 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,080 to instill in you guys of like what artistry is outside of just 600 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,360 making music. And that's why I think what's 601 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,480 missing from Lola Young, I I think her talent is undeniable. 602 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,040 I think Messi is a song that has incredible writing too and and 603 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,600 really tapped into these themes of feeling like a disaster a 604 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,560 little bit, you know, and what it means to be a young person 605 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,160 struggling through the world we are in now. 606 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,640 But I want it to have a more holistic visual approach. 607 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:29,200 I think that's what she really needs. 608 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,040 Next we have Alex Warren, who has 51.9 million monthly 609 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,680 listeners. His biggest song is Ordinary 610 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,440 with 1.4 billion streams. And I will say in terms of 611 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:44,560 overall streams, he fucking crushes everyone on this list. 612 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,400 Like crushes. I think he has like 10 songs 613 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:53,160 with 100 million plus streams. He also did like a two-part 614 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,280 album situation. Or was it 2 albums? 615 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,520 I don't really get it. I just know there was one thing 616 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,080 with 11 songs and another thing with 10 more songs that also had 617 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,400 the 1st 11 on them. I don't know was it 2 albums? 618 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:05,440 Was it a deluxe? I don't get it. 619 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:10,040 Those such things confuse me, but it is he's massive. 620 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:14,400 What's crazy to me is how many people stream Alex Warren, yet 621 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,960 for some reason I seem to have not met a single one of them. 622 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,680 Like I cannot tell you one person I know in my life or my 623 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,520 circle of friends or anyone, like around me, my age or 624 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,200 whatever, and where I am that is bumping Alex Warren. 625 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:32,400 They're out there 51 million of you 52,000,000 about I think to 626 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,200 me, you know, I've given my thoughts about Alex Warren in 627 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,440 the death of the male pop star video of like, it's just where 628 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,680 is the flavor? You know, it's so interesting. 629 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,080 Sam made a really great play that episode, one that I have 630 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:47,200 not been able to stop thinking about where to a lot of people, 631 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,440 they, they see pop music as this like manufactured thing, the 632 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,040 glitz and the glam and all of that. 633 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,640 And they when they hear, you know, it's just like a a sultry 634 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,600 man with a guitar that feels more real and authentic to them. 635 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,000 Like they view that as real music and they're a real 636 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,760 musician because they don't need all that other stuff. 637 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,040 They just sing. But to me it's like, like, where 638 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,360 is the flavour? Like do something, anything at 639 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:13,800 all, like have a visual, have a big performance. 640 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:15,920 His VM as was great, I will say, but that was like all the 641 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:17,720 marching band and the dancers, you know what I mean? 642 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,720 Like do something like, give me something like, Oh my God, it's 643 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,720 just boiled chicken. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 644 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,040 Alex Warrington I and I don't mean to be mean, I really don't, 645 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:30,360 but like it's just not moving me. 646 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,320 There's nothing about it. It's this whole like derivative 647 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,160 of Ed Sheeran, like boring white boy music that has just never 648 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:39,400 ranged for me. You know what I mean? 649 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:40,600 Like I'm not a big Benson Boone guy. 650 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:42,560 I'm not a big. I wasn't big into Teddy Swims. 651 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:44,600 I wasn't big into I'm not even big into Ed Sheeran. 652 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:46,600 Am I being honest? Alex wore another example. 653 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,920 You know what I mean? It's just like ordinary singing 654 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,360 about a girl, blah, blah, blah. You want to get married? 655 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:53,920 Oh, so cute. Oh, but you love her. 656 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,320 Oh, but bad thing happened. But oh, I just don't know 657 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,120 Flair's flavor. I want some flavor. 658 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,120 Then we have the Marias, which is you want to talk about 659 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,880 flavor, bitch? Flavor town. 660 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,760 I love the Marias. Oh my God, 35.7 million monthly 661 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,760 listeners. Their biggest song is No One 662 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,280 Noticed with 855,000,000. Something interesting is 663 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,280 technically Submarine does not count in this Grammy cycle. 664 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,880 Submarine came out in May of last year, the album, but songs 665 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:25,040 like Nobody Knew and Back to Me did come out in this cycle. 666 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,600 You know, like the feature of Host Teresa's on the Selena and 667 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:33,360 Benny album is in this cycle. And the Marias might be the only 668 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:37,080 breakthrough bands that we have had since the pandemic. 669 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,400 Like, bands do not really exist anymore. 670 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,080 And it is so sad because you can see how important that musical 671 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,920 chemistry is to the Marias. Like the music is so psychedelic 672 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:52,120 and otherworldly. And she has these like soft, 673 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,600 whispery vocals that don't feel like a siren call. 674 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,000 So it's enchanting. It's almost futuristic feeling 675 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,520 sometimes. But then they'll have these long 676 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:03,920 breaks of instrumentation in the song. 677 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,120 Like Carino is such a perfect example, an older Maria's song. 678 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,800 But like it's not. It's just they can like touch 679 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,400 into all these genres and sounds. 680 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,640 I love that she uses she speaks Spanish in her music, but not 681 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:16,680 all the time. Like there's so much influence 682 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:20,520 of culture and that like it's just amazing. 683 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,560 It's so good. I just freaking love the 684 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:24,640 marinas. People are not into the like 685 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,560 body of submarine enough. OK, your homework is to listen 686 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,400 to the song. I know play though by the 687 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,120 marinas on Submarine. One of my favorites, actually. 688 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,640 I'd like you to listen to it start to finish again. 689 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,440 But you know, if we're going to do one thing, that's the song I 690 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,320 want you to listen to or listen to Carino by the marinas. 691 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,240 If you're just a recent fan, if you just discovered them from 692 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:43,640 like back to me and that type of stuff. 693 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,560 No one noticed. God, she's so good. 694 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,200 She's so interesting. One of my favorite things about 695 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,680 the marinas, I saw them at Lollapalooza and I have been 696 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,320 telling this to a lot of my artist friends and a lot of 697 00:33:55,320 --> 00:34:00,440 people I know who work in music of like she is the blueprint for 698 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,200 how to have a commanding stage presence when you are not a 699 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,360 dancer and when the music is very slow, that's a really, 700 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:11,040 really tough thing to do. You know when to hold the energy 701 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:15,840 of 10s of thousands of people when the music is very sad and 702 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,480 methodical and slow. But watch her sets dude. 703 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:23,480 Like finds them on YouTube. The way she like, contorts her 704 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,320 body and moves around the stage and she's so like. 705 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:30,880 Like she is so appalling. You are locked in on her despite 706 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:34,000 the fact that these songs aren't, you know, that sort of 707 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:36,320 high energy thing that might not create that within you. 708 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,520 But like, she knows how to entrance you and how to use her 709 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,880 body to be this physical expression of the song. 710 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,120 That's not dance. It's just movement. 711 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,239 It's very fluid. It's, I don't know, like it. 712 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,400 It's just so interesting. I think she's such a a brilliant 713 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:57,160 artist to study if you were like that, you know, if if you're 714 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:00,160 worried about having to perform or maybe you have some slower 715 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,640 tempo songs that you don't know how to maintain the energy of 716 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:07,080 the crowd for, I really, really recommend just like actually 717 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,400 studying her, her her stage performance and and what she 718 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,800 does. I also randomly have been saying 719 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,640 this for so long. I want Maria to star in a horror 720 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:17,560 movie. Look at that face. 721 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,040 She would serve face as like a possessed girl. 722 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:27,160 Are you kidding me? She she was locked in on that 723 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,240 camera Like she she truly could have no lines in the movie if 724 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:33,400 she was just like a hot demon. Oh, my God, I would eat it up. 725 00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:35,840 I would eat it up. It would be so good. 726 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,840 But get up, cast 824. What are you doing? 727 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,280 Get Maria in the horror movies. OK. 728 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,760 I want to see her being a Kunti demon. 729 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:52,040 Then we have Leon Thomas with 14.1 million monthly listeners. 730 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,600 His biggest song is Mutt, which has 340 million streams. 731 00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:59,080 His next biggest song has like around 60 million mark. 732 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,640 So again, a huge song, huge moment for him. 733 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,200 I'm not sure as much it it got as many people to, to pull into 734 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,040 the album. Something I do think is very 735 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,320 interesting to note is that he is the only one on this list to 736 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,120 also get an album of the year nomination. 737 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:18,320 So people really liked it. Like people who care about R&B 738 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,280 and music and, and are in it and we're studying it are 739 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,480 obsessively autonomous. I think he's very much also just 740 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,080 like a musician's musician. He's also somebody who's just 741 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:27,960 like done a lot of cool stuff. I think he's been a writer for a 742 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:29,440 lot of other people. He's been a producer for other 743 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:32,200 people. He's very musically gifted and 744 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,160 always has been. And you know, it is really that 745 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,200 sort of his like moment, like his mainstream moment. 746 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,280 You know, sort of, I say I got quite a very similar age, like 747 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:42,160 Victoria Monet, you know, what happened with her where like 748 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,400 people knew about her. People knew of her. 749 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,240 People in the industry knew she was incredibly talented and they 750 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:50,160 knew that she was behind some of Ariana Grande's biggest songs. 751 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:55,080 And then it just it, it was like 2023 when she had her moment for 752 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,960 her music. And I feel like that's very 753 00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:58,920 similar to what's happening with Leon Thomas right now. 754 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,840 Truly it, it takes 10 years to be an overnight success type of 755 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,240 story and probably the best R&B album of the year. 756 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:07,480 I, I think he'll win that Grammy for sure. 757 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:10,320 Again, I don't know, it's tough to say. 758 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,840 It's, it's, you know, when you look at his numbers compared to 759 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,880 other people, it's, it's the sort of, it's not as there as 760 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,480 much. But again, like he is the only 761 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,720 R&B artist on this list. I and people really like him 762 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:24,800 enough to again, the only one that got an album of the year 763 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,160 nomination also. So it would be one of those 764 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:30,480 interesting things where it's like a big industry pick, then 765 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,280 it is like just going off raw commercial success type pick. 766 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,960 But who is my overall prediction if I have to pick one? 767 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,680 I mean, I I like there's nobody on this list that will 768 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,880 disappoint me besides Alex Warren, but I don't think that's 769 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,240 going to happen. Something interesting I forgot 770 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:48,000 to mention in Alex Warren and somber too, was it shocked me 771 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,400 that neither of their songs got nominated for record of the year 772 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,000 or song of the year. Ordinary has like 1 1/2 billion 773 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,880 streams and back to friends like 1 1/2 billion streams. 774 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:00,600 Neither one got nominated, which makes me less confident and 775 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,800 either of them is winning the even the best new artist 776 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:05,760 category. Honestly, my prediction, I feel 777 00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:07,600 like it's going to be Olivia Dean. 778 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,480 I just feel like she has so much momentum right now. 779 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:16,560 I think her music is so positive and and feel good in a way that 780 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,080 not a lot of other people are tapping into in the same way. 781 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,840 I think she's such like a real music lovers music. 782 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:28,880 I was so I was so surprised at how many people had her album in 783 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,080 the top five albums on their Spotify rap, considering the 784 00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:32,800 fact that it came out in September. 785 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,160 I could really just see her winning, you know, I, I really, 786 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:38,040 really could. I would God, I would love it if 787 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:41,440 Hadison won. I would love it if I would love 788 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:42,680 the cats. I won too, but I don't think 789 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:44,520 they will. I don't think I, you know, Lola 790 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,480 Young to the God. I would love it if the Maria's 791 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,680 won. Somber or Olivia Dean feels like 792 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:52,480 the most likely to me. I'm going to lock in Olivia 793 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,200 Dean. It's just I feel it in my soul. 794 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:55,680 What do you think? What do you want? 795 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:58,280 Who do you want to win and who do you think is gonna win? 796 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,000 Comment that below. I wanna know. 797 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,120 And yeah, don't forget to follow on Spotify. 798 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,040 Don't forget to do all the things I said at the beginning 799 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:07,200 of the episode. Subscribe. 800 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:10,640 I love y'all and I'll see you soon. 801 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:11,280 Bye.