Introducing: Kacey Musgraves

Country music as a whole is harder for me to enjoy than other genres. Whether it's because of the same rehashed lyrics, the same faces repeatedly representing the entire genre, the faux-monopoly that is Music Row, or the fact that you cannot tell many of the vocalists apart from one another, it has not been one of my favorites. Fortunately, there's one artist who is set on telling a different story with a unique voice of her own, breaking many of country's clichés in the process.

Kacey Musgraves is that artist. Repeat her name twenty more times in your head to not forget it because by 2013's end, she will be one of country's most-talked about individuals and one of its biggest female stars; a strong statement I do not take lightly and one in which I'm not alone in thinking.

The singer scored three Academy of Country Music nominations two weeks ago, including one for Female Vocalist of the Year, putting the relative newcomer in competition with Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. She's also up for Video of the Year (Artist and Producer) for "Merry Go Round". All before her major label debut album Same Trailer, Different Park is even heard by the public.

Same Trailer, Different Park is due for release on March 19th via Universal Music Group's imprint Mercury Nashville. Signing the 24-year-old was a coup for the small imprint as Big Machine's Scott Borchetta, among many other majors, were in a bidding war to net the star. The million-dollar deal secures Musgraves for three full-length albums of new material with an option for a fourth.

The contract was a longtime coming for the Texan as she had self-released three albums prior and had a stint on the 2007 season of Nashville Star, a now defunct American Idol-style competition. Since then she's written for numerous country stars (Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride), found placement on Nashville, she's found her identity as a recording artist and sculpted her personal narrative; proven by her stunner of a single "Merry Go Round", co-penned with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally. From the opening lines, it's obvious she's knocked it out of the ballpark.

If you ain’t got two kids by 21
You’re probably gonna die alone
At least that’s what tradition told you
And it don’t matter if you don’t believe
Come Sunday morning you best be there
In the front row, like you’re supposed to 

The homonym line of "Mary-Kate, mary jane, Mary" marks one of my favorite lyrics of recent memory. The single has received lots of radio attention, pushing it to No. 63 on the Hot 100. It's declined in the past week, but once press begins to pick up and she debuts at the awards shows, I think we'll see the song make its way back up again.

Her label has plans for releasing "Follow Your Arrow" as the follow-up to "Merry Go Round", but it's a decision many are regarding as a bold move. Musgraves serves up her own "Born This Way", "Firework", "Raise Your Glass" - you get the idea. It's a clever mid-tempo that advocates equality and smoking a joint. The lyrics are so refreshing and are more nuanced than the highly romanticized anthems offered up by many of her male counterparts.

If you save yourself for marriage you're a bore
If you don't save yourself for marriage you're a horr...ible person
If you won't have a drink then you're a prude
But they'll call you drunk as soon as you down the first one

If you can't lose the weight then you're just fat
But if you lose too much then you're on crack
You're damned if you do
And you're damned if you don't
So you might as well just do whatever you want

So make lots of noise
Kiss lots of boys
Or kiss lots of girls if that's something you're into
When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don't
Just follow your arrow wherever it points

If you don't go to church, you'll go to hell
If you're the first one on the front row, you're a self-righteous son of a...
Can't win for losing, you'll just disappoint them
Just cause you can't beat them, doesn't mean you should join them

Thanks in part to executive producer Luke Laird bringing in the right people, the lyrics of "Merry Go Round" and "Follow Your Arrow" are some of the best country craftsmanship has to offer. The honesty is something I think country radio is ready for. Look at the reaction the latter receives from audiences here and here. Now imagine that multiplied.

Using her VEVO channel, the label is doing a fantastic job of portraying her as the girl-next-door and putting her humor, open-mindedness, and candidness in the forefront. That winning persona, well-crafted image, and resonating music is without a doubt going to win people over.



Jody Rosen of Slate put it best: "Let’s hope she keeps it up: honoring Nashville’s grand songwriting traditions while—gently, viciously—tipping its sacred cows." 

Josef Salvat - "This Life"

"I just need to tell my story, if you're drunk I'll get done quicker." 

With very minimal information available, a love for vintage homemade videos, and a subtle, atmospheric sound with dark, cinematic undertones, it seems like newcomer Josef Salvat may be the male answer to Lana Del Rey. Just like the the polarizing enchantress of 2012 was before news broke of her major label ties, Salvat is sort of a mystery. His website is tight-lipped and his discography is nonexistent, save for "Hustler", which made little impact on its arrival two years ago.

This is what we know for certain:

• Australian-born, London-based
• Studied law
• Sole writer of "This Life" 
• Worked with Rich Cooper
• Released digitally through Sticky Lips
• PR by PurplePR

And that's it. Not much to go on, but it's exciting in the age of overshare, where every detail about an artist is available with one click, there is still some sense of mystique. Here's hoping we get more pieces of the puzzle sooner rather than later.



If "This Life", with it's intelligently intoxicating storytelling does not convince you of Salvat's promise, take a look at the client list of PurplePR's music department. With superstars like Adele, Beyonce, and Lana Del Rey(!), and rising stars with their own major buzz like Florrie and Say Lou Lou, it's clear Salvat has the manpower to make an impact in 2013.

Perception's Role in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' Success

Billboard announced on Wednesday what many knew was coming: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis reached the top spot on the Hot 100 Chart, making "Thrift Shop" the number 1 song in the United States; a feat so impressive because the duo achieved this success without a major label contract — supposedly.

When they released their full-length debut album "The Heist" back in October, it sold 78,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Many in the media explained how extraordinary it was because the twosome were unsigned artists with no ties to a major label.

Being independent, they've became the poster boys for the DIY artist and how mainstream success can be achieved without the backing of "the machine." Just take a look at this short documentary by filmmaker Jabari where he follows the duo as they film the music video for "Thrift Shop".



We see the day-to-day hard work and dedication to his craft that Macklemore has and how he struggles with the daunting task of being his own director, stylist, driver, location scout, and merchandise retailer. I'm sure he wears many more hats not seen in this short doc. My favorite part occurs during the candid conversation between Macklemore and Jabari at the 11:20 mark.

Jabari: "Do you ever think that...'If I was on a label I wouldn't have to do all this?' Does that ever run through your mind?"

Macklemore: "Absolutely! But you know what man? Driving a U-Hall and doing my own wardrobe and shit...we could outsource all this. We could spend, you know, like thirty grand on the video or fifty grand on the video and hire drivers. I would just rather do it."

In almost every article written about them or press interview they are a part of, the point about them being indie artists arises. The reason being is that this is their "story," their clutch; every artist has one in order to plan how the public perceives them. Just look at Justin Bieber's YouTube beginnings or Lana Del Rey's dark, misunderstood chanteuse guise. They have used this "fact" as the the first building block for their careers and as the keystone in gaining a mass following.

The one thing not being discussed? Macklemore and Lewis have a contract with Alternative Distribution Alliance, an independent distribution company serving as Warner Music Group's indie division. Once an act signed to ADA begins to create buzz and generate certain interest from various parties, Warner Music Group's Radio, Promotion, and Sales departments begin to take control. While it is only a distribution deal, when the distribution becomes lucrative, that is when the execs upstairs get going; a seamless transition because the whole business is in-house.

RT @blakewalshh: @macklemore still independent I hope <- of course
— Macklemore (@macklemore) January 23, 2013

When "Thrift Shop" began receiving airplay from multiple radio formats across the nation and their video for "Same Love", a beautiful song many said was one of the first Hip-Hop songs to support equality, received widespread media attention, it was clear Warner Music Group was at the helm and was executing a plan to familiarize the public with the duo.

I even tweeted Billboard's Director of Charts Silvio Pietroluongo to find out when the last time an act with zero ties to a major label reached the top spot. I still have yet to get my question answered but Piertroluongo's tweet solidifies that fact that Macklemore and Lewis are not indie artists. 

@alftirado @gthot20 U mean excluding M&L which would not count, correct?
— Silvio Pietroluongo (@silpiet) January 24, 2013

I say all this as a huge fan of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and think "Thrift Shop" and "Same Love" are two of the best songs released in 2012. It's simply intriguing how the public's perception has played an integral part in securing the duo's place in the music marketplace as the independent artists that could, no matter how false that may be. But like they say, percepetion is everything and Macklemore and Lewis are the underdogs that took on an industry of gatekeepers and made their own success.

Thanks to New York City-based manager Marat Berenstein for bringing to light ADA's contract.

Chlöe Howl - "No Strings"

This 17-year-old British songstress has released a wicked debut single in "No Strings" and has left the blogosphere wondering where the hell she came from.

One part Lily Allen and one part Adele cira 19, Chlöe Howl, with her punchy attitude and irreverent bite, tells of a relationship soured by the other half's desire to keep things relaxed. Not one to sit back and take it, Howl spits out her feelings to her player partner with frank lyrics like: "You don't even know if I'm the right sex, do ya?" and "Fuck your 'no strings,' I hope I have twins."

The electro-pop production bounces along energetically over a synth riff sounding a little too similar to Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks", a fact I'm choosing to overlook because what makes this record so enticing is not the beat, but Howl's undeniably charming personality that a Lena Dunham-loving generation is more than willing to embrace.



Little is known of Howl besides the fact that she is signed to Columbia Records in her native UK. Even doing some research on her Facebook turns up nothing as it seems she just opened the page in October and had not posted anything until last month. Maybe she's doing the classic "I'll let the music do the talking" approach for now. Whatever the case, consider me attached.

Everything Everything's New Record Is Everything

There is going to come a time in eleven months when "Best of 2013" lists start going live and one album you're going to see popping up over and over again is Arc by British indie synth rock/pop band Everything Everything. There is a lot of time to be proven wrong, but it just isn't going to happen.

The four-piece band rose to fame in their native UK after landing on the prestigious BBC's Sound of 2010 poll. The year saw them release their debut record Man Alive, an album that simply served as a taste test to what Everything Everything was sonically capable of. I think NME put it best (a very rare phrase): "Man Alive sought to bedazzle us with weird polyrhythms and look-at-us! songwriting, but Arc is a different proposition: more focused, more restrained, less prone to tangential distractions. It’s an incremental leap rather than an exponential one."

Preceding Arc's release in the UK this past week was lead single "Cough Cough", a smashing track that renders many of the band's contemporaries' releases as unexciting, lifeless fare. "Yeah… so… um… wait a second," chants lead single Jonathan Higgs as if he and the guys meant it as a subtle double entrendre; the listener is so intrigued by the way the song began that he or she must replay it to experience the opening lines once again. I know that not even fifteen seconds into "Cough Cough" I had to replay it to grasp what I had just heard.



To be honest, sometimes I don't have a clue what Higgs is saying when he uses his attractively-angular falsetto, but the music makes me want to find out.

From the album's intoxicating second single "Kemosabe", to the Coldplay-esque "Duets" with its lush strings and whimsical refrain, to the syncopated synths of "Amourland", the stripped-back, piano-laden "The Peak", and to "Torso of the Week" and its experimental electronic R&B sound this side of James Blake, Arc is crisp, ready to assault the charts and infiltrate the masses.

RCA Records has not disclosed dates for Arc's US release. You can listen to snippets from the album here. 

Kat Dahlia - "Gangsta"

Miami-native Kat Dahlia's has a sound that is complex, intoxicating and unforgettable. This rapper-singer-songwriter's storytelling abilities are put up for display on debut track "Gangsta", where she vividly sketches the painful details of her life: “No, I ain’t stuntin’ like my daddy / He’s living with my grammy / Used to be a big baller / He’s surviving off of gambling / But I love him, he’s my daddy / Yeah, I love him, he’s my daddy / Put him in a big house before I ever see a Grammy.”

Born Katriana Huguet (and formerly known as Kat Hue), the song tells of Dahlia's rags-to-riches-to-rags childhood. Her parents were once successful entrepreneurs who owned a moving company, but their business unraveled after they divorced, and Dahlia and three of her six siblings went to live with their mother. “My parents came from no money, made money, but little by little went back to the struggle. We lived in a hotel room for a while and there was a time when I slept on a sofa-bed with two of my sisters while my other sister slept in an armchair. That’s when I realized I had to do shit on my own.”

That self-reliance Dahlia learned early on helped her survive her rough reality. After saving enough money from waitressing gigs at various Miami hotspots, she was able to make her way to New York where she independently funded studio sessions, a music video, and an EP all on her own. That combination of hustle and infectious vocals is why music industry veteran Sylvia Rhone swiftly signed Dahlia to her Vested in Culture label with Epic Records the very first time she heard her demos.

Rhone and LA Reid should consider themselves very lucky they secured Dahlia onto their roster because her simultenously polished and gritty sound is precisely what the public is hungry for.

Check out Dahlia's brutally evocative debut record below.

Introducing: Mree

Mree, an 18-year-old New Jersey native, is exactly what the music industry lacks and needs more of - real musicians with artistic visions and the commercial appeal to be a viable act in today's fickle marketplace.

Her unique rustic chamber pop with an experimental edge may have not worked back in 2009 when the public began its obsession with dance music, but as general taste begins to shift towards a higher acceptance of a more singer/songwriter sound, Mree's echoing and mesmerizing sound could not have come at a more opportune time. While her music may not be radio-friendly, it has been proven numerous that listeners are hungry for true artistry that strikes an internal chord in a way that most radio hits cannot.



Look at three of the biggest acts in the past year - Adele, Mumford & Sons, and Taylor Swift. Each are major players in the business who have found the most success of any acts in recent memory and who possess the perfect marriage of a distinct sound and commercial appeal. It should be noted that each act created their albums while under indie labels - XL Recordings, Glassnote Records, and Big Machine Records, respectively. Albeit they did have major label distribution.

Mree serves as the ideal example of what label execs are looking for today in regards to new acts. They do not have the time nor the exuberant millennial bank accounts to take a chance on an untested act. They want artists with a clear artistic direction, an established online presence and fanbase, and most importantly, the mass-market appeal that will serve as a possible future revenue stream for the label. I hate that the last point is most important, but that is simply the nature of the game.

Thankfully, Mree possesses all three qualities:

1. She is the female Bon Iver, just slightly more pop and with a much broader demographic appeal. And the name "Mree" is just killer. 
2. She has over 7.3 million views and 40,000 subscribers on YouTube, over 15,000 Facebook likes, over 2,000 Twitter followers, and over 1,000 Instagram followers. All organic metrics. One look at her social media profiles and you can see how deeply her fans admire her. It begs the question - what are other artists doing wrong?
3. She is young, culturally-diverse, and her music will sell. Simple.

While I say all these things from a business standpoint, it is easy to forget what really matters here. Mree stands for something. There is substance and an undeniable heart that goes into the creation of her music. As if she could not be even more of an A&R's dream, Mree, along with the help of her manager, also serves as her own producer, engineer, and mixer.

Simply put, Mree is the answer.

Interview | Bridgit Mendler

Following in the footsteps of Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato, Bridget Mendler is the next Disney starlet set to show off her musical chops. The singer/actress has made a name for herself as the star of Disney's "Good Luck Charlie" and "Lemonade Mouth" and recently realized a life-long goal of releasing her record Hello My Name Is... via Hollywood Records.

The Listener Label caught up with Bridgit as she explains the making of "Hello My Name Is...", the biggest goal she has for herself, and how she feels about the stigma that comes with being a Disney star.
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You co-wrote every single song off “Hello My Name Is...” a rarity nowadays. How important was having this creative control to you?

It was really great that I was allowed that creative control. it was very important to me to be able to make the album I identified and that I felt some authority and ownership in.

How was the recording process for you?

The recording process was so much fun. I love working with different writers and producers. They were so creative and they were really listening and trying to get a sense for the style I wanted to tap into. I feel very grateful for that.

What is one thing you learned during the recording process you wish you had known in the beginning?

I wish I would have known that the songs were going to be so hard to sing back-to-back for an hour. I wish I would have maybe considered that beforehand, but that’s just one of those things that you just can’t know until you actually have to perform. Who knows...maybe I’ll make a lot of easy songs the next time [laughs].

 
If you could only perform one song off the record for the rest of your life, which would it be and why?

Oh my goodness. You know, I really love performing the song “Hurricane.” Bad timing with everything going on, but I just love that song.

Why is that? Is it really personal to you?

Oh yes! I love performing that song because it has a lot of different, cool levels. I feel like the way that I express the emotion in the song, or just the way the theme of the song is expressed, I feel like it’s really cool to perform. It’s really cool to share with people in that moment. I think it’s different that I rap during it, you know? I get to be a little spicy with that. I love every piece to the song. I think it has a really cool arc to it.



Who is one person you dream of working with?

In terms of collaboration, it would be cool to work with Mark Ronson. I love his style.

Did you like some of his prior collaborations with the likes of Amy Winehouse and Daniel Merriweather?

Yeah! I love that. And his work with Lily Allen.

There’s a certain stigma that comes with being a Disney star wanting to break into the music industry. Did you feel any pressure, internally or externally, to prove yourself as a true musician?

Yeah. I guess there is always that pressure to make people view you in the way that you want. I mean, I have been wanting to make music all of my life. All of my life I have been wanting to make an album. It’s something that I’ve been working towards for a very long time. I’ve made my own music for years and years now and so it’s something that I have been wanting to share. And to share my own style. I think it’s awesome that Disney really allows you that opportunity and also the platform of viewers to listen to what you have to say. It’s great to have that audience ready and willing to listen. At the same time, sometimes there is that stigma that Disney pop artists are not real musicians, but I think there have been some really talented people to come out of Hollywood Records and Disney Channel. I feel proud to be among that and hopefully be able to reach a broad audience through the music.



You must have many things you hope to achieve but what is the biggest goal you have for yourself right now?

It’s so easy to get stressed out over where you should be and how the music should be performing. And maybe I even stress myself out more than I need to because I don’t have anything to compare it to. But I have really come to the realization that I am making this music to tell stories, to have it be relatable to people, and to have a positive impact on people who do feel the music. So for me, the more that I’ve done it, it has boiled down to the people that are listening. If I can relate to them, if they can appreciate, or if I can give them what they want out of it, that would be the most gratifying thing for me.

It has been great talking to you and I am really looking forward to seeing even more success for “Hello My Name Is...”.

Thank you so much and best of luck out there in New York City!
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It is refreshing to hear someone with a genuine voice and who can compose her own material. The fact that the material is a consistent, cohesive pop album filled with promise is just an added bonus. I have to say I had my doubts, but one listen and I was hooked. Definite standouts are: "All I See Is Gold", "Rocks At My Window", and "We're Dancing".

"Hurricane" is easily my favorite from the album and is screaming to be the second single off the set. Unfortunately, it will not get a chance to impact radio, at least for a while. With Hurricane Sandy's aftermath still very much affecting the Northeast, Hollywood Records would be smart to not push the song with its various weather metaphors. Instead, they should sit on the track until the beginning of April. It has that certain quality that would make it a perfect song that could capitalize from that unexplainable happiness people feel when Winter ends and Spring begins.

Be sure to check out more from Hello My Name Is... and stay updated with all things Bridgit on her Facebook and Twitter.