Jade Bird’s “Lottery”
Music discovery is broken.
If this were the late 80s, Jade Bird would already be a star. The above video would have been aired on MTV and fans would have been intrigued, purchased her album, gone to see her and eagerly awaited the follow-up.
Now most people have no idea who Jade Bird is.
Actually, she’s a twenty year old Englishwoman and that’s her real name. An EP was released last year, but you only know if you’re in the know. Which some are, each track on that EP has over a million streams. But most people are unaware.
I thought Jimmy Iovine was gonna solve music discovery…
He certainly didn’t.
There’s just too much product. And the product mixes with the art and it’s completely overwhelming. We need a national top ten that’s compiled from all genres.
If I go on Spotify and check out the top tracks it’s all hip-hop, at least in America.
Looking for a bit of breadth, I went to the global chart, you don’t have to rap to make it in the rest of the world. And I discovered this cut “IDGAF” by Dua Lipa. And that stands for…
Well, you can listen here:
It’s strangely hooky, it’s the sing-songy chorus that puts it over the top, play it to the end and you have to hear it again.
Why is this not a hit in America yet? We live in a global business but Warner just started working this in the U.S. Yes, that’s how far we’ve come, even a glorified hit gets no traction in another market.
But back to Jade Bird.
“Lottery” sounds nothing like what’s in the Spotify Top 50 or on Top 40 radio, which is why it’s such a revelation. Isn’t this what we’ve been looking for, something DIFFERENT?
But we no longer allow different, it’s all me-too.
Now last I checked “Lottery” has made it all the way to #19 on AAA, showing how moribund that format is. It’s kinda like winning a Grammy in one of those down the list categories, hope it makes you feel good, BECAUSE NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION!
But we’d like to!
Last night I got stuck on Casting Crowns’ “Broken Together.” Which I found via Discovery Weekly, thank god, BUT HOW DO I FIND MORE?
That’s right, where do I go for meaningful music, with melody and changes, how do I find that?
I HAVE NO IDEA!
I can listen to genre playlists, but the crap to good ratio is horrendous.
And then I wonder what playlist has the music I want to hear.
And I utilize music as foreground, I’m not gonna put on a playlist and let it play in the background hoping something jumps out.
Instead, I click through cut by cut, skipping ahead in search of something good, but it’s truly like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Now “Lottery” does not need the video to convince you.
There’s the earnestness, but even more there’s the bridge. Remember when the Beatles use to employ these? Now we’ve just got beats, it’s all repetitive with no melody and…
Where’s the one playlist with ten good tracks of all genres?
How do we all come together?
Everywhere I go people want to talk television. But not music. Because we haven’t heard the same things. BUT WE WANT TO!
