Predicting ACL 2020: Shazam

Howdy!  Welcome to the Coachellamageddon!  Because with Coachella moving to October, and conflicting with the second weekend of ACL, who in the absolute hell can predict what that will mean for the lineup?  I know that it is possible for a band to play both Fests - i.e. Rage could play Coachella on Friday night and then get to Austin for Sunday night - I get that.  But it just throws a wrench in things for sure.

The idea for this post popped into my head last year when I was trying to get into the brain of the two ladies who handle most of the ACL booking.  Where do they find out about the next big band?  How do they spot Twenty-One Pilots in 2015 or Maren Morris in 2016 or Megan Thee Stallion in 2019, before either of those had really hit the big time?  I know they have contacts with loads of agents and Live Nation and all of that, so there are many that are likely fed to them through those channels, but if someone wanted to figure out what is hot right now in music, seems like Shazam is the right spot, right?

If you don't know what Shazam is, we are talking about an app you can put on your phone that will identify whatever song is playing within a few seconds of listening.  Its kind of amazing.  So, if you are in the car or in a restaurant or at a party, and you hear a song that slaps, and you want to know what it is, you just fire up the app and let it listen for a little bit and it will tell you what is up.  I probably use it about 5 times a year, usually for some killer indie rap song playing on KUTX.  Then Shazam keeps that data to create Top 100 lists for different locations, so you can pretty easily see what the new hot shit is out there in the wild.

Right now, here is the top ten for all of the United States:

1. The Weeknd - Blinding Lights.
2. Tones And I - Dance Monkey.
3. Roddy Ricch - The Box.
4. Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now.
5. Russ feat. BIA - Best on Earth (Bonus).
6. Doja Cat - Say So.
7. The Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin - RITMO (Bad Boys for Life).
8. Billie Eilish - everything i wanted.
9. blackbear - Hot Girl Bummer.
10. Justin Bieber feat. Quavo - Intentions.

What in the actual fuck is all of that?  A band called Tones and I?  Is all of this because of tik tok?  If those are artists on our poster, then I'm screwed.  Shazam might skew a little too young for the crowd that I am expecting at ACL.  This might be a better gauge for the I Heart Radio festival or something.  Although we know I can eliminate Eilish, since she was just here.  I hope Weeknd isn't coming back, same with Russ.  

Let's look at Austin-only.

1. The Weeknd - Blinding Lights.
2. Tones And I - Dance Monkey.
3. Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now.
4. Doja Cat - Say So.
5. Russ feat. BIA - Best on Earth (Bonus).
6. Roddy Ricch - The Box.
7. Billie Eilish - everything i wanted.
8. The Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin - RITMO (Bad Boys for Life).
9. Post Malone - circles.
10. Nathaniel Rateliff - And It's Still Alright.

"one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't the same!"  Thank God for Rateliff to save our list from total pop domination.  We also have Caroline Rose at #15, plus Noah Cyrus/Leon Bridges at 23, Khruangabin and Leon Bridges at 25, and Black Pumas at 31.  That is good news for the sanity of our city.

Buuuuuuuut, what does this mean?  I'll look at some of these artists, but there is no way that I believe all of these pop ass things are going to be named to the ACL poster.

• The Weeknd.  On tour right now, with dates in Houston and Dallas at the end of July.  Shows during Chicago Lolla.  Swings back through Texas for San Antonio and Fort Worth in August, which makes me think this is less likely.  But he has a huge gap from September 3 to October 11, which means he could ostensibly play weekend one very easily, and then maybe the Friday of Weekend Two so that he could fly to England for his Oct. 11 show in London.  That doesn't sound very likely (plus I saw part of his show last time, and it wasn't so great).  No.
• Tones and I.  Uh, holy fucking shit.  That song up above has 1.2 BILLION streams.  WITH A B!!!  What is going on?  This must be a tik tok thing, right?  Her voice is annoying and the song is nothing all that special, right?  What?  Playing Governor's Ball, Bonnaroo, and several other fests.  Her tour ends on August 2 in Montreal, so she could be here.  Sure, why wouldn't they book someone with a track that has over a billion streams, who probably costs all of $20 plus a bottle of Tito's to book?  Yes.
• Roddy Ricch.  He just came through Austin recently - someone I follow on Twitter thought it was a good show.  As of now, it looks like his tour is coming to an end - a few smaller festivals - "Broccoli City Festival"?  WTF?  BUt his last show is July 11, so it would appear that he isn't doing much more.  Again, like the Tones & I thing up above, I could see ACL adding the guy just to snag the excitement of "The Box" while its still hot, since it shouldn't cost them much at all to get him.  Sure.
• Dua Lipa.  She appears to be on tour right now, but it's 100% Europe.  Shows peter out on June 19, though, so she would have the time to come do her thing at both Lolla and ACL.  I honestly just had to search for her to see if she was here last year - her name sounds familiar even if I don't know any of her music.  BUt nothing here leads me to believe she would be here this year.  No.
• Doja Cat.  My girls requested a song by this lady the other day, I had no clue what it was.  I did not enjoy it.  She is coming to Austin on April 9 for a sold out show (booked by C3), just before she was supposed to play Coachella.  Actually, now that I think of it, I wonder if they are going to cancel a bunch of other shows, and push back tours, which will also impact ACL?  Crap.  Anyway, her tour is supposed to end on July 25, so she has the time to come back, is popular enough to sell out a C3 booked show in Austin already, so I see this one as a good chance.  Yes.
• blackbear.  I feel like I could just make up a band name here and you likely wouldn't know.  "Yeah, 8lacks4uce is coming to ACL for sure!" and you'd never know.  ANyway, maybe I'm just out of touch, as Wikipedia says this dude has released FIVE studio albums.  Okey doke.  Holy shit - he's playing two nights at Red Rocks in July.  Who is this guy?  Ooooh, dammit.  My kids were singing along to this song the other day in the car too, which was highly inappropriate for a pre-church sing-a-long.  Luckily the radio version was censored, but it was pretty clear that he was singing to "fuck you, and you, and youuuuuuuu!"  The last show on his calendar is Sept 6 at Lolla Berlin.  So, yeah, I can see this one being on tap.  He's on the C3 radar, has three tracks with more than 300 million streams (this one has 417 million).  Yes.
• Nathaniel Rateliff.  Funny, I'm sitting here looking through his tour, being like "wow, he's got a sold out show at the Ryman, then a sold out show at Royal Albert Hall in London, and later two nights at Red Rocks, he's killing it!" and then see a show at the Amarillo Civic Center in June.  Which is decidedly not "killing it."  The tour ends on Aug. 26, but he's playing right through Lolla Chicago's dates.  But, he just released a new album (mid Feb.), and would match up well with the old-school ACL style, so I'll go with a yes.   

So, let's see - I think Tones and I, Roddy Ricch, Doja Cat, blackbear, and Nathaniel Rateliff are going to come, out of this method for hunting for artists.  That would be all small type artists, so I'm not sure that it even matters.  Not sure I need to do this post next year.