Spotify Suggestions
“Come”
Jain
This has 44,634,669 streams on Spotify and 66,937,245 on YouTube and you’ll think there’s nothing special until you hit the chorus/hook and then you’ll find you’re hooked. Two minutes and forty seconds of specialness. Maybe we’re returning to that era, a pullback from the seventies ethos where acts wanted to be able to stretch out to a full album side, as long as they cared to. But a lot of those extended plays were dreck, whereas today if you’ve got somebody’s attention you want to deliver, immediately, make your mark and leave.
This isn’t in French, but her accent is so heavy it’ll take you a few plays to realize she’s singing in English. (Or is she..?)
Furthermore, it was released originally nearly two years ago.
And there was a TV push, she was on Colbert earlier this year, but we’re no longer living in the nineties, when being on Letterman was a badge of honor and made a difference, it’s nearly irrelevant these days, grants you a video at most, no, you’ve got to make it on streaming services and Jain has, just not in America, but now since “Despacito”…
Granted there are a lot more Latinos then French people in the U.S., but have barriers been broken, has the definition of a hit single broadened? Put Bieber on this and it’s Top Five, guaranteed. You can’t listen without moving your head, it just makes you feel good, whatever it means.
Meanwhile, Jain is charismatic/adorable, check out the video, it’s French in a way that is entrancing, all about minimalist style. The video put “Despacito” over the top. Today, when tracks take so long to build could “Come” still make it?
I think so!
And she was excellent on Colbert:
“Letra (feat. JC Ramirez)”
Sweet
That Sweet?
I have no idea, on both Spotify and iTunes they’re crediting the old English band, is this a sample, even though I don’t hear it, but I couldn’t find anything whatsoever on Google, it’s a black hole. But if you let this play in the background you’ll find yourself nodding your head, despite once again being unable to understand what they’re singing about, unless you speak Spanish.
This stood out in my Discover Weekly playlist.
“House of the White Rose Bouquet”
Ray Wylie Hubbard
As did this. I had to wake up my phone to see who it was. And I’ve always heard Ray’s name, but never been hooked.
But this time…
The production is superior to his voice, but Ray’s telling a story.
This is the essence of not only country, but music, it’s what truly bonds us to an act, when they leave a little blood on the saddle. You’ll either get this or you won’t, but if you do…
“Woulda Left Me Too”
Ryan Griffin
This is not a hit, but the song is. Yup, like in the days of Clive’s Arista, when he asked prospective A&R people what unrecognized/unheralded songs when covered could be hits.
This is a great line, “woulda left me too,” like the old days of country, it’s the twist that closes you.
A ready-made hit for a non-writer star in Nashville.