Wrabel

One Liner:  Heartfelt love songs and support for transgender folks

Wikipedia Genre: Pop
Home: LA

Poster Position: 17

Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts:  Definitely never heard of this guy before, but his stream count is ridiculously high for a guy on the 17th line who I've never heard before.  He's got seven tracks with eight figures of streaming, which is impressive to me.  Although I have to say that Wikipedia calling him pop is a little odd.  I still think of pop music as dance music pop like Brittney and Katy Perry, so lumping this indie type music into those spaces seems weird.  But whatever.

So who the hell is he?  Real name is just Stephen Wrabel.  Grew up in Houston, went to Berklee College of Music but dropped out to move to LA and get moving on his songwriting.  His Wikipedia says that a 2014 remix of his song "Ten Feet Tall" became an international hit and was used in a Super Bowl commercial for Bud Light.  Let's see about that.

Huh.  Definitely a remix - that sounds nothing like his regular music on Spotify.  And what a weird commercial, just seeing a bottle twist around and splash through icy water as Wrabel sings that he is ten feet tall?  Odd.  Then, in 2016, he released a single that "was heavily supported and promoted by Kesha."  His songwriting credits include Adam Lambert and Ellie Goulding.  he also covers Kesha's "woman" and its pretty fun.

No studio album, just a pile of singles and a live album that is part gay buddy confessional/ part falsetto love song festival.  Got a Sam Smith sound going on a lot of the time, with the big, soaring falsettos.  Let's see about that initial single that Kesha liked.  His most streamed at 50.7 million, this is "11 Blocks."

Nice, pretty song.  Dude's voice is great.  Almost sounds like the current cheesy country, mixed with some Dear Evan Hansen-style showtunes.  That soaring "knoo--woooahhhh-oowww thatcha hooo-wooooaaahhhh-ome" has the showtune piece, and the kind of generically powerful music in the background makes me think of the bad country.  Catchy tune.  His hair is horrible.

The currently most popular track is one that apparently supports transgender folks, and the video does the same.  This is "The Village," with 28.2 million streams.

The mean dad looks like a heavier Mayor Pete with stubble.  That one line that a page of the bible isn't worth a life is pretty strong stuff.  Powerful song, although if I'm being honest, I bet tired of him yelling the word Village over and over.

From listening through the live album, it seems like most of the live show is going to be heavy piano and solo vocals, which is nice, being that this guy's voice is very good.  But part of me would rather see a more exuberant show based on the fun songs, like "Ritual" or "We Could Be Beautiful" (which is the Coldplay moment in these songs).  Not sure if I want to see this one or not - on the fence here.

Just because, here is that last one, the Coldplay copy.