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- #21 - Forever and alvvays 🌞
#21 - Forever and alvvays 🌞
Your weekly music round-up: Blue Rev album review, Zachary Knowles, Miley's Endless Summer Vacation, touring in 2022, and Coachella headliner rumors.
Happy Sunlighter Sunday! This week, we’re featuring an artist who is the epitome of easy listening, so tune in to ensure smooth sailing and more dancing in the kitchen this New Year.

Here's what we have queued up this week:
🌶️ Review of Blue Rev by Alvvays.
🎹 Song recs based on what we're listening to.
💿 Industry updates from endless summer vacations to honoring Gangsta Boo.
🎙️ Zachary Knowles is our artist of the week.
📈 Data on on a record-breaking year of touring.
🎡 Coachella hype and Sam Smith on tour.


Chris: The Canadian five-piece indie outfit with the difficult-to-pronounce name, Alvvays, is back with their junior album Blue Rev. The big question is… is it finally their time now 8 years removed from their self-titled album and initial SXSW momentum? The answer is… probably not. While there are plenty of grainy, garage-band distortions and tactful reverb imperfections that one looks for in a classic indie album, that same sound becomes its own worst enemy when you get to song five and nothing new is introduced. The only exception is the intro, but for the majority of the album, the sound alvvays seems to coalesce into a bit of an uptempo blur. “Velveteen” is the standout, and if you’re a fan of indie, the album is still worth a listen.
Donya: I first heard of the band Alvvays in an interview with Lostboycrow. At the time, he was inspired by a lot of female-led indie rock bands, and he mentioned Alvvays, spelled just like that but pronounced “always.” Their third studio album was five years in the making, and it’s nostalgic joy. They teamed up with Shawn Everett, a producer who's worked with The War on Drugs and Alabama Shakes, and the layers of mixing on this album show it. Standout tracks like “Many Mirrors” and “Tile By Tile” make it shimmer. Indie rock lovers, rejoice and give this album a listen.

The Sunlighter Playlist 🔀

Songs we’re currently listening to 🎹

Artist of the Week: Zachary Knowles 🎙️
If you’re a fan of Shallou, Alexander 23, Jeremy Zucker, or Vancouver Sleep Clinic–or if you love bedroom pop music with a hint of R&B–you’ll love this week’s artist. We love spotlighting Texas native artists who are building a name for themselves in the music industry.
Light-Up Keyboards > Light-Up Sneakers
Zachary Knowles was born and raised in Magnolia, Texas, a small town just northwest of Houston where he experienced memories that fuel much of his songwriting. While most first graders were rocking light-up sneakers, Zachary’s most prized possession was his light-up keyboard. Growing up, he taught himself how to play songs on that keyboard and as he got older, he continued developing other musical skills, especially songwriting. While attending Texas A&M University, he began religiously recording and publishing his repertoire on SoundCloud with the help of his best friend and producer, Tyler Ray. The reception was so overwhelmingly positive, particularly with his feelings EP, that it caught the attention of the FADER Label (Lewis Del Mar, Clairo), who subsequently signed him in October 2019.
Tendency to Be A Loner
Signing with the FADER Label brought diverse collaboration opportunities for Knowles, who connected with a more experienced production team that helped him experiment and discover his authentic sound while creating his debut album, tendency to be a loner. His heaviest collaborators are Dylan Bauld (flor, Halsey) and Peter Fenn (Nicky Youre, Fred again…), and the majority of the album was written during COVID lockdown in a dimly-lit house in College Station, Texas. Knowles describes the creative process as a crucial period of self-discovery; the core theme of this album is finding balance and peace with his introverted tendencies. As soon as he was able to travel, he took a trip to LA, where his songs broke free.
GOALIE & Beyond
After releasing his debut album, Zachary spent a month focusing on his mental health, which ultimately led him back to LA to work with his collaborators and create the GOALIE EP, which was released a year later. From his breakout track, “slow down my thoughts,” to now, Zachary showcases raw emotions and vulnerability in hopes that his level of transparency continues to connect with fans on a deeper level. As his career continues to grow, Zachary understands the importance of staying grounded (his family and faith are integral to this), especially after seeing musical inspirations get caught up in the sad culture of “chasing” the next big high in the music industry.
After an iconic performance at Billy Bob’s Rodeo Arena this past November, we’re hoping to see more live shows announced soon. Until then, enjoy our favorite tracks:

Industry Updates 💿
We’re expecting 2023 to be a strong music year. Budding artists will take off, perennial artists will release new albums. There’s a lot to be excited about.
🏖️ Miley Cyrus is on an Endless Summer Vacation in her new album, which is set to drop on March 10th. Celine Dion was snubbed from Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, resulting in 15 Canadians driving down to conduct an all-day protest. Mac Demarco is giving us a new instrumental album based on his travels throughout North America on Five Easy Hotdogs 🌭. Skrillex released new music featuring Trippie Redd and PinkPanthress, a glimpse into his double album which should be released later this year. 50 Cent is reuniting with Dr. Dre on a new album, and finally, Lil Uzi Vert has confirmed The Pink Tape will be dropping in February, guaranteeing no “mid” material.
📱 On music tech news: Apple Fitness+ will be releasing workouts that spotlight specific artists, including Beyoncé, Foo Fighters, and Bad Bunny. Vevo will be partnering with TikTok to release a weekly trending video show titled “Trending on TikTok” (how original) 🙄. Calvin Harris will play his first-ever virtual concert on TikTok LIVE next Friday. Spotify is giving you a chance to make a Playlist in a Bottle so you can do a “before and after” of your music taste after a year. Finally, 50 Cent is working on an 8 Mile TV series, featuring Eminem (duh).
😔 Unfortunately, we’ve also experienced tragedies that have hit the music industry at the start of the new year: Gangsta Boo, Memphis rapper and emcee who got her start with Three 6 Mafia, passed away. She may not be a household name, but you’ve definitely felt her influence - FTCU is a female retake of Three 6 Mafia’s “Tear Da Club Up.” Drummer Fred White of Earth, Wind, & Fire also passed away this past week. In Miami, 10 people were injured during a French Montana’s video shoot.
Here’s everything else you missed:
📢 BBC Sound 2023 Winners: R&B trio FLO won BBC Music’s Sound of 2023 Poll. The poll is usually a leading indicator of stardom, with past winners being Sam Smith, Florence and the Machine, and PinkPanthress.
💽 RIAA Class of 2022: 39 freshman artists received Gold or Platinum records last year, but there was only one who hit multiplatinum status: GAYLE. Catch her on tour with Taylor Swift next year. Other artists who reached platinum include Bailey Zimmerman, Bella Poarch, Muni Long, Em Beihold, SleazyWorld Go, and Stephen Sanchez.
👂 Shazam’s Top 10 Artists for 2023: Shazam is putting out some breakthrough growth predictions into the universe for a few artists. The list includes Ice Spice, charlieonafriday, Rosa Linn, Benson Boone, and others.
😊 The Smile on Tiny Desk: Rejoice Thom Yorke fans! NPR has featured The Smile as the first Tiny Desk concert of 2023.
🚰 Ghanian Roots: VIC MENSA teamed up with Let Them Drink Water to provide potable drinking water to three different communities in Ghana.
🐝 The Pinkprint: Nicki Minaj broke Missy Elliot’s record for longest-charting female rapper on Billboard Hot 100.
🍭 Six Days Later: As part of NYE festivities, 5,000 people descended on the small town of La Peza, Spain, setting up a 6-day illegal rave. Whoever managed the logistics, bravo.

Data 📈
A Historic Year of Touring: Last month, Pollstar, a concert and live music industry publication and research company, published a business analysis of their findings of both worldwide and North American tours during 2022. Here are some of the remarkable results of touring last year:

🏆 Touring set a new record in 2022, reaching ~$6.28 billion worldwide in total gross revenue for the top 100 worldwide tours, translating to an increase of 13.2% from 2019. For North America, gross revenue grew from $4.4 billion in 2019 to $5.65 billion in 2022, equating to a 28.4% increase in revenue. Live music is obviously back and more popular than ever.
🎟️ It’s not just money! The top 100 tours worldwide also sold more tickets than any previous year, totaling 59,211,267 worldwide and 42,796,795 in North America.

🧾 What attributed to the increase in revenue? Although there were more tickets sold, the primary driver was higher ticket prices (of course 😒). On average, the price of an individual worldwide concert ticket grew 10.29% (outpacing inflation) from ~$96 to $106 between 2019 and 2022. In North America, the cost was even higher, hitting on average >$111 per ticket. In North America, that translates to $1.3 million per show.

🏟️ 2022 was the year of the stadium. Stadium gross revenues grew by 81%, and tickets sold at stadiums grew by 49% between 2019 and 2022 😮. Theaters were the primary losing category across all venue types.

🐰 As we mentioned a few weeks ago in #18, Bad Bunny set a new record for total touring revenue in a calendar year. As part of his 63-stop 2022 tour, he takes gold on this list, grossing $365.5 million, with Elton John raking in $201.8 million and Def Leppard + Mötley Crüe (co-headlining tour) taking third, pulling in $177.4 million. We’re expecting Taylor Swift to reach the top five on this list for 2023.

Festivals & Tour Announcements 🎡
With the turn of the year, the 2023 festival season gets a quick boost from a number of festival announcements, so check back weekly for the latest updates. Next week, we should expect both Coachella and Bonnaroo to officially drop their lineups.
🎡 Coachella 2023 Headliners: It’s not official yet, but word on the street is that the headliners for Coachella 2023 will be Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK, and Frank Ocean. The headliners alone may be worth the ticket.
🌊 High Water Festival 2023: If it’s hell or high water, we’ll gladly choose high water. In its fifth year, High Water Music Festival is back with exactly what you’ve come to expect: two stages of Americana, Low Country cuisine, and local Charleston vendors.

Tour Announcements 🤘
Sam Smith announces Gloria - The Tour, in anticipation of their fourth studio album, Gloria, out January 27. The tour kicks off this July in Miami.
Season 4 winner of The Voice, country artist Danielle Bradbery, goes on her first headlining tour in support of her album, In Between: The Collection starting February 23. Until then, catch her on tour with Jordan Davis.

Wrap Up 👏
We're closing the newsletter this week with lyrics from a band called flor, whose bassist and producer, Dylan Bauld, also produces for Zachary Knowles.
Lyrical Genius ✍️
I can see hints of the sun through the trees
Lighting the earth evergreen
But only with you near me

How do you like our newsletter this week?We're all ears, click the number of 🔆 you think we deserve and feel free to drop a comment. |

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See ya next Sunday 😎
Chris and Donya

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