#24 - SunlighterONNASunday 🌞

Happy SunlighterONNASunday! We’re rewinding a couple of days to introduce Charlie Finch, but before we take the time machine back, we’d love your honest feedback on the quick poll below.

Here's what we have queued up this week:

1. 🌶️ Review of ONNAFRIDAY by charlieonnafriday.

2. 🎹 Songs we're currently listening to.

3. 💿 Industry updates from Willie Nelson's 90th to The Kid LAROI on Fortnite.

4. 🎙️ charlieonnafriday is our artist of the week.

5. 📈 Data on the Beyhive.

6. 🎡 Lollapalooza Paris and tour announcements.

Chris: It's a Sunday, but we're still ONNAFRIDAY. If you're a fan of Post Malone or The Kid LAROI, my money is on you also being a fan of charlieoonafriday. Charlie's lyrical flow, vocal sound, and emotions-on-a-sleeve lyricism is a perfect hybrid of the two, and in my opinion, there is no doubt he will continue to gain popularity in 2023. "After Hours" epitomizes Charlie's early success, and if he keeps rollin' the dice, him and his brothers are gonna continue to shoot confetti.

Donya: Wait, did The Kid LAROI walk so charlieonnafriday could run? Is his “onnafriday” artist tag the new, “ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd?” I love seeing so many new artists on the rise, particularly the ones that are really maximizing the use of TikTok to build their fandom and brand. Throughout his self-titled EP, Charlie creates a unique blend of rap, hip-hop, and pop music. The songs aren’t super cohesive—hence the lower score—but the standout tracks are “Fall Again” and “After Hours,” and they shine. Frankly, I’m more excited about the new music he’s releasing, particularly his most recent follow-up song to his single, “Enough.”

The Sunlighter Playlist 🔀

Songs we’re currently listening to 🎹

Artist of the Week: charlieonnafriday 🎙️

This week, we’re setting our sights on the Emerald City where Charlie Finch is paving a new era of sound for the local Seattle hip-hop scene. His upbringing and pathway to music are a testament to those who find success by simply committing time to their passions.

On and Off the Field

Growing up in one of the northern suburbs of Seattle, Charlie spent most of his youth much like the average kid - playing sports and hanging out with his friends. Although neither of his parents were musically inclined, like many parents, they placed Charlie in piano and vocal lessons at an early age, which paved the way for his interest in music. In 8th grade, he began making music with his friends, marking a pivotal moment that transformed his passion for music into an obsession.

In high school, Charlie narrowed down his primary hobbies to two activities: music and football. While he began to work more consistently on his music with a friend’s older brother (who produced beats), he continued to devote time to football, applying the motivation of “short-term memory” developed from being on the field into everyday life. To Charlie, football was more than a sport. He viewed the fundamentals of football as applicable life lessons that could translate to how he approached music. However, by his junior year of high school, COVID took away the rest of his high school experience, forcing him to walk away from football and focus more on music.

COVID On A Friday

During COVID, Charlie doubled down on finding his cross-genre hip-hop sound that was inspired by artists like Post Malone, Justin Bieber, Mike Stud, and local legend, Macklemore. More importantly, Charlie came to the realization that music was his real calling, and you only have a limited time on earth - approximately 4,000 weeks - so why not make every day a Friday? The answer led to the inception of charlieonnafriday, which focused on seizing every day as if it was Friday while having fun with your friends.

As the pandemic continued, he found ways to strategically release and market his music on multiple platforms, which set his music apart from other local Seattle artists. Early success came when one of his songs was featured on a Fortnite montage that nabbed over 1 million views. TikTok also became a focal point as he began to see success with “After Hours” and “Enough,” which ultimately led him to sign with Island Records and move to Los Angeles.

Ask Your Friends

While the pressure to continue to perform is omnipresent in Charlie’s life, he’s able to cope with it by staying focused on songwriting and surrounding himself with his friends. Charlie describes the songwriting processes that work best for him: jotting down ideas in his notes app, writing out longer-form stories about his ideas, and mumbling over melodies. However, when it comes to finalizing a song and performing it live, his friends play a crucial part by giving honest feedback and joining him on stage for performances.

We think Charlie will continue to carve his own path within the hip-hop industry, following in the footsteps of newer hip-hop artists that have ushered in the dual role of rapping and singing. He plans to put out a deluxe album that builds on ONNAFRIDAY, and we’ll be on the lookout.

Here’s the music video of his latest release from Friday:

Industry Updates 💿

👖 Anyone else singing ‘The Ripped Pants’ song from SpongeBob after Harry Styles ripped his pants on Thursday night at the Forum? Try not to play the hilarious video on loop while you catch up on this week’s major updates:

🌼 Miley Cyrus delivered a strong comeback with her latest single “Flowers,” which debuted 101 million streams in its first week–making it the most-streamed song in a single week in Spotify history. Willie Nelson announced a 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl with guest performances galore. John Mayer announced a fully acoustic tour (cue us fangirling). Linkin Park revealed a throwback-themed teaser alluding to their song “Numb” with a countdown on their website. Justin Bieber sold the publishing rights of his masters to Hipgnosis for $200 million. Drake embraced nostalgia at his Apollo show in NYC while teasing a potential summer 2023 tour with 21 Savage. Panic! At The Disco announced they’re disbanding after 19 years, Chris Stapleton is singing the national anthem at this year’s Super Bowl, and apparently, there’s a toy unicorn ripping off the Black Eyed Peas?

Other news, ICYMI:

• 👾 I Need You to Stay…on Fortnite: The Kid LAROI kicked off his Wild Dreams Fortnite experience on Friday. Throughout the experience, he’s expected to debut 3 new tracks, presumably from his debut album, The First Time, set to drop later this year.

• 🎻 We’ve Come Too Far to Give Up Who We Are: Almost two years after announcing their breakup, Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter announces a solo album and reveals his face for the first time.

• 🏆 …And the Oscar goes to: Rihanna and Lady Gaga are up for Best Original Song at this year’s Academy Awards, for “Lift Me Up” and “Hold My Hand,” respectively, making it Lady Gaga’s third nomination in the category (previously winning for “Shallow” in 2019) and Rihanna’s first.

• 💌 Love Rocks: The 7th annual benefit concert for God’s Love We Deliver announces a lineup for the March 9 event, including John Mayer, James Taylor, St. Vincent, and Mavis Staples.

• 📹 Thunderbolt & Lightning: Queen started a year-long YouTube series giving fans a glimpse into a day in the life of the band and tour.

• 🤝 More Music x Web3: EMPIRE announced a partnership with Nebula, hoping to continue building upon early artist development and deep connections between artists and fans.

Data 📈

🐝 Beyhive Sales Funnel: Last weekend, Beyoncé performed an exclusive, private show in anticipation of Atlantis The Royal’s grand opening in Dubai. While the event was hush-hush (no phones were allowed), everyone seems to be talking about it. Why are people so obsessed with Queen Bey? Because she intentionally invests in every stage of the fandom, from the casual ones to the diehards. Dan Runcie of Trapital explains it best with his “Beyhive Sales Funnel.”

Festivals & Tour Announcements 🎡

More festivals, more fun, am I right? Here are the festival lineups that dropped this week.

🗼Lollapalooza Paris: Returning for its fifth year, Lollapalooza Paris secures a solid lineup for a July 2023 weekend of performances at the Hippodrome de Longchamp.

🏍️ Harley-Davidson Homecoming: Rev up those engines all the way to Milwaukee, WI this summer as Harley-Davidson celebrates 120 years of the beloved moto-brand. The four-day festival is part of a series of celebrations, including headlining performances from The Foo Fighters and Green Day, followed by Social Distortion, Phantogram, KennyHoopla, Cody Jinks, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and the White Reaper.

😔 Sad Summer Festival: Emo music fans, listen up. Sponsored by Converse and Journeys, the traveling festival returns for a fourth year with 16 stops across the nation.

Tour Announcements 🤘

• More dates of Madonna’s The Celebration Tour were added, but those also sold out. So far, 36 tour stops have been sold out.

• Run-D.M.C. are playing their final show together this April in Madison Square Garden.

• Fresh off receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Billy Idol announced a spring tour starting this March.

• Kygo announced a show this summer in London’s Gunnersbury Park with supporting acts MK, Sofi Tukker, and Frank Walker.

• Beck and Phoenix are going on a Summer Odyssey this year, hitting 19 cities with special guests Japanese Breakfast, Weyes Blood, and Jenny Lewis.

• Stevie Nicks has added 14 additional dates to her current tour.

• Le Tigre announced a reunion tour across North America and Europe this summer.

• Big Thief extended their current tour and added three co-headling dates with Lucinda Williams, including a stop at the iconic Red Rocks.

• Lecrae announced the Church Clothes Tour, which marks the final tour for the Church Clothes mixtape series the artist started in 2013.

• Coldplay is tacking on 3 US West Coast dates for their Music of the Spheres World Tour.

• Kali Uchis is dropping a new album and tour and bringing along RAYE.

• South Korean K-pop group, Tomorrow X Together, will be heading to the United States for their Act: Sweet Mirage tour on May 6th, with 9 dates announced and more to come.

• Nickelback (yes, the one that’s asking you to look at this photograph) will be kicking off ther Get Rollin’ Tour with Brantley Gilbert in June.

• Brooks & Dunn aren’t dunn yet. They’re adding 17 more shows to extend their current Reboot arena tour into 2023.

• Valley is hitting the North American tour circuit this year with their Lost in Translation Tour.

• 100 gecs will be kicking off their tour early April.

• Hard rock band, Shinedown, announced their Revolutions Live Tour with Three Days Grace and From Ashes to New.

Wrap Up 👏

We're closing the newsletter this week with some beginning-of-the-week motivation: KEEP GRINDING. Most people talk, they don’t do.

Lyrical Genius ✍️

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See ya next Sunday 😎

Chris and Donya