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The timeline and history of how this song came to be is one of my favorite stories. “Old Town Road” is honestly so good, but I don’t want it to just become a one hit wonder. I really hope that Lil Nas X takes this and runs with it to make more incredible hits.
You may have noticed that Yow Yow! has been heavy on music content lately. It’s not by coincidence! Despite not taking the music career route in my own life, it is still very much something that I think about every day. When I’m not on the phone or in meetings, my headphones are always over my ears. At night, we come home and watch more YouTube music documentaries. I’ve recently become partial to YouTube’s Artist Spotlight Series and crave more, but they aren’t coming out fast enough! I’ve even been reaching out to friends of mine in the industry still to see how I can become more involved in my free time. Where we will find the time is beyond me, but I’m hoping we can make something work.
I recently stumbled across [Iris Zhang] while watching another YouTube video in which Shawn is watching one of her covers! And I quickly gravitated towards her channel. In early Yow Yow! days we were sharing covers all the time and I’ve really missed that and discovering new artists. Shawn Mendes, himself, also started out doing covers so this feels serendipitous.
I’ve been looking into this series ever since I saw Shawn Mendes’ recently. I was surprised even getting chills just watching the intro to Maren’s short doc. I’ve been a fan of hers for a couple of years now, but seeing her live in San Francisco this year really solidified everything for me. “The Middle” was what skyrocketed her career, but now we’re getting a glimpse into the music that she’s really making and why it’s impactful. It’s not the cookie cutter mainstream pop that she did, but she can do that also.
This has been one of my favorite albums this year. I can’t tell you how many times I cycle through her songs on a weekly basis. She’s our ultimate girl crush and I’m so grateful to have learned about her early on. If you’re not onto her yet, it’s only a matter of time.
Shawn is 20 years old and it’s a little weird to find ourselves attracted to him, but I will say that I find him extremely talented. His songs are simple and complex at the same time and usually written alongside Teddy Geiger. If some of you have been following Yow Yow! since the early days, then you also know that we find Teddy to be an incredible songwriter. She still is today and the two of them are very close.
I was listening to the radio today while running errands and of course, this song was everywhere. We learned that this song was actually written for Dua Lipa and in a turn of events, he kept it for himself. It was the right move because this song is exquisite. Since I’ve been battling insomnia from my jet lag, I basically listened to this song on loop after his SNL performance for hours straight afterwards. It spiraled into Shawn Mendes YouTube videos, but we don’t have a problem with this.
Y’all get ready for a Shawn Mendes overload.
I’ll never forget the first time I became a Shawn Mendes fan. I was back home in Seattle driving the family car when I started to notice every radio station playing “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back.” I didn’t want to like it, but this played out exactly like the scene in “Easy A.” Emma Stone hears that Natasha Bedingfield song for the first time until it becomes her favorite song!
Honestly though, loving Shawn Mendes isn’t a bad thing. I was pleasantly surprised watching this short doc. I also had no idea that he became famous through YouTube. He’s a Justin Bieber with a little less extra and we don’t mind it. Shawn seems like a kid with a good head on his shoulders. If you haven’t listened to his last two albums (my favorites!) you should definitely check them out.
We are playing catch up on everything we missed at the award show this past week. I think it will be quite obvious what my favorite performances were before I tell you, but it’s still fun to share them here. I’m loving the Jonas Brothers comeback and Joe and Nick taking on each others’ songs. BTS will absolutely never get old to me and Ariana kills it as always. Readers, what were your favorites from the night? Also, how are we all feeling about Taylor’s new song? If I’m being honest, I prefer dark Taylor.
I love Khalid as an artist, but as a performer, he lacks a bit of presence.
