Following up on the success of “Cover Girl” (approximately 318 thousand streams to-date on Spotify), Aubryanna’s new release, “Safe,” is poised to see a similar trajectory.
Out only ten days but already at over 9,500 streams, the single from the independent Pop and R&B singer-songwriter based between South Jersey and Philadelphia has a lot of the elements a track needs if it’s going to successfully withstand the pressure to follow up a song that has done as well as its predecessor.
Why has this offering come out of the gate so strongly? For starters, the production on it is unique. I like the vocals starting immediately when the track does, and even some light background vocals just 14 seconds in. This release also has “it,” meaning that “Safe” fits well on today's pop/R&B landscape.
The message of the song, “The quiet courage of letting love in” is nice encouragement, dare I say something that more people need to hear than would probably admit it.
On this week’s episode of my “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, you’re going to hear (Episode 640, out Wednesday) my guest stressing the importance of a producer. Specifically, listen for this part of the interview. “Everybody has the software. Everybody can record themselves. Everybody can … finish a song, put it up on Spotify and say, ‘Look at me, I did it’… Why do you need a music producer? Why do you need a mixer? Why do you need anybody else? You need somebody else because they have experience helping you get to where you want to get to.”
Clearly, Aubryanna (pictured above) wants to get to the top. You don’t put out a song and get approximately 318 thousand streams on Spotify and follow it up with another strong effort such as “Safe” only because this is a hobby to you.
While this is the first time I’m hearing anything from this artist, I admire and appreciate the work that (as my upcoming podcast episode guest alluded to) clearly has gone into getting it right – with the new release and with “Cover Girl.” That’s how you put yourself in a position to find success with your music.
Yes, there absolutely are people I’ve interviewed on the podcast who’ve written hundreds, and even thousands, of songs. But at the end of the day, it’s always going to come down to quality and not quantity. If you’re taking the wash-rinse-repeat approach and just banging out song after song, that sounds to me like you’re just going through the motions and aren’t passionate about each track being the best it possibly can be.
I’m sure there was debate as Aubryanna put “Safe” together. But as long as the goal was to do what would serve the song best, that’s going to benefit everyone – including, of course, the all important listener.
Whether this genre is in your sweet spot or not in terms of what you might put on a personal playlist, you’d be hard pressed to say that it doesn’t have the qualities of a song you’d expect to hear on radio or even other commercial environments.
It’s also worth noting that this song did not come out of New York or L.A. where too many people think this style of music can only be made. (After all, listen to NHTE 639 from last week where Zoe Thrall said that artists are choosing to record in Las Vegas instead of New York, L.A., or Nashville.)
As so often happens with all of us when we discover an artist whose work we previously didn’t know, a rabbit hole awaits, at least in the case of Aubryanna, who is building up quite the following across her various social media platforms.
These, my friends, are the components you need to be checking off on your list before you wonder why it’s taking so long to become an overnight success. Aubryanna has a good blueprint in place. Again, the music has to be there, though, and in her case it is.
A Member of the Recording Academy, I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more for over twenty years. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Connect with me so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.