I thought your analysis on the church as a site of artistic development was really excellent — and made clear that I haven’t heard you singly nearly enough!! (though you’ll belt a lovely line or two from time to time).
Why do you think there are some teams / labels still willing to bet on magic (your examples of Doechii, Tyla, 2BYG, etc)? Do you think that’s more the label, or the force of personality of an artist like Doechii?
It's a good question and I'm not sure the answer re: 2BYG and Tyla. My best guess with Tyla is that there's been a wider acceptance of global music sounds on US pop charts in the last decade or so (thinking of acts like Bad Bunny and Rosalia), and especially Afrobeats. BurnaBoy, Tems, Wizkid all broke through to pop charts. I imagine their success created an opening for Tyla to bring the South African Amapiano sound to a large market. Doechii signed with TDE which has a strong reputation for artist development (Kendrick, SZA, SchoolboyQ). Their roster is small so they can probably give each artist more attention and resources.
I thought your analysis on the church as a site of artistic development was really excellent — and made clear that I haven’t heard you singly nearly enough!! (though you’ll belt a lovely line or two from time to time).
Why do you think there are some teams / labels still willing to bet on magic (your examples of Doechii, Tyla, 2BYG, etc)? Do you think that’s more the label, or the force of personality of an artist like Doechii?
Thnks for reading my friend!!
It's a good question and I'm not sure the answer re: 2BYG and Tyla. My best guess with Tyla is that there's been a wider acceptance of global music sounds on US pop charts in the last decade or so (thinking of acts like Bad Bunny and Rosalia), and especially Afrobeats. BurnaBoy, Tems, Wizkid all broke through to pop charts. I imagine their success created an opening for Tyla to bring the South African Amapiano sound to a large market. Doechii signed with TDE which has a strong reputation for artist development (Kendrick, SZA, SchoolboyQ). Their roster is small so they can probably give each artist more attention and resources.
I really enjoyed reading. I have been wondering the same thing and this provided answers.