WEBVTT 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.660 Dive into the sultry, synth -heavy world of Ne 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:10.820 -Yo's 2012 R &B hit, Lazy Love. In this deep 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:13.119 dive, we unpack the fascinating machinery behind 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:15.580 a major music release, exploring how artists 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:18.059 balance core fanbases with mainstream success. 00:00:19.009 --> 00:00:21.609 From slow -drip synths and explicit music videos 00:00:21.609 --> 00:00:24.370 to Australian boy band acoustic covers, we trace 00:00:24.370 --> 00:00:26.329 the life cycle of a song that pinned listeners 00:00:26.329 --> 00:00:28.789 to their sheets. Perfect for music lovers and 00:00:28.789 --> 00:00:32.369 marketing nerds alike. Keywords. Neo, Lazy Love, 00:00:32.609 --> 00:00:36.250 RED Album, R &B Slow Jam, Shea Taylor, Music 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:39.909 Production, Pop Music Strategy. Welcome to another 00:00:39.909 --> 00:00:43.070 Deep Dive. Today's mission is to dissect the 00:00:43.070 --> 00:00:46.090 anatomy of a modern R &B single. Right, taking 00:00:46.090 --> 00:00:47.789 a look under the hood. Exactly. We're going to 00:00:47.789 --> 00:00:50.070 use just a single Wikipedia article on Neo's 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:52.810 2012 track, Lazy Love, as our ultimate case study 00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:54.909 today. It's a really perfect example for this. 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:56.409 It is, because this isn't just about the music 00:00:56.409 --> 00:00:58.270 itself. I mean, the production details are incredible. 00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:00.369 But this is really about the fascinating strategy 00:01:00.369 --> 00:01:02.890 of how a superstar markets their art to entirely 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:04.730 different audiences simultaneously. Yeah, the 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:07.109 business behind the art. Exactly. Okay, let's 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:10.359 untag this. Where do we even begin with a track 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.799 like Lazy Love? I think we need to ground ourselves 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:16.859 in the music industry landscape of 2012, specifically 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:19.859 where Neo found himself at that exact moment. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.939 Right, because context is everything here. It 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:24.319 is. So Lazy Love served as the lead single for 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.099 his fifth studio album, which was titled R .E 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:30.219 .D. But to grasp the strategic weight of this 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:32.340 release, you really have to look backwards for 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:34.700 a minute. To his previous project. Right. In 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:37.739 2010, Neo put out an album called Libra Scale. 00:01:38.430 --> 00:01:41.450 And it was it was this incredibly ambitious, 00:01:41.650 --> 00:01:44.629 dense, narrative driven concept album. It had 00:01:44.629 --> 00:01:46.530 a whole storyline, right? Yeah. Complex storyline 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.549 involving superheroes, villains, moral dilemmas. 00:01:49.549 --> 00:01:51.769 That sounds like a massive creative swing for 00:01:51.769 --> 00:01:54.290 an artist who basically built his empire on, 00:01:54.290 --> 00:01:56.890 you know, smooth, relatable relationship anthems. 00:01:56.890 --> 00:01:59.819 A huge swing. I mean when you take a detour into 00:01:59.819 --> 00:02:02.280 high concept fantasy, you really risk leaving 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:04.280 the people who just wanted a good slow dance 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:06.700 at a wedding completely in the dust. That is 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:09.629 the exact friction he ran into. Concept albums 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:12.250 are fantastic exercises in artistic boundary 00:02:12.250 --> 00:02:15.169 pushing, but they almost always run the risk 00:02:15.169 --> 00:02:18.490 of alienating a broader audience. Even a highly 00:02:18.490 --> 00:02:21.330 dedicated core fan base can feel disconnected 00:02:21.330 --> 00:02:24.009 if the music strays too far from the foundational 00:02:24.009 --> 00:02:25.789 sound that made them fans in the first place. 00:02:25.949 --> 00:02:27.469 So they didn't know what to do with the superhero 00:02:27.469 --> 00:02:31.129 stuff. Exactly. So by stepping into the R .E 00:02:31.129 --> 00:02:35.849 .D. album era in 2012, Neo was in a pretty precarious 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:39.719 position. He was looking to bounce back. to reestablish 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:42.419 his footing within his genre, and crucially to 00:02:42.419 --> 00:02:45.240 remind everyone what his core competency actually 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:48.139 was. He needed to reassure everyone that he hadn't 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:50.900 forgotten how to make a classic down -tempo R 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:54.159 &B slow jam. Yes, a return to form. Which brings 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:56.639 us to the actual sonic landscape of Lazy Love. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.280 When you listen to this track, the vibe is overwhelmingly 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:01.719 deliberate. It really is. The production, which 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:04.280 was handled by Shea Taylor, leans heavily on 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:07.099 this sonorous bass line and slow drip synths. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.199 Slow drip synths. I love that phrasing from the 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.860 source. Slow drip synths. You can instantly picture 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:16.460 the tempo of the song. It isn't rushing. It feels 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:18.620 entirely unbothered by the speed of the outside 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:20.919 world. What's fascinating here is the synergy 00:03:20.919 --> 00:03:24.319 between the production and the songwriting. Shea 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:27.419 Taylor co -wrote the track directly with Neo. 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:29.620 And that makes a difference. A massive difference. 00:03:29.780 --> 00:03:32.539 It often results in a much tighter synergy between 00:03:32.539 --> 00:03:34.860 the sound of the record and the story being told. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:37.860 There's no disconnect between the producer's 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:40.439 vision and the vocalist's delivery. Right, the 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:42.539 music sounds exactly how the physical environment 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:45.620 is supposed to feel. Exactly. The slow drip sound 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:48.599 perfectly mirrors the languid physical feeling 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:51.270 the lyrics describe. You really hear that synergy 00:03:51.270 --> 00:03:53.990 in how the music physically embodies those lyrics. 00:03:54.270 --> 00:03:56.729 The song centers on this languid desire that 00:03:56.729 --> 00:03:59.669 pins a couple to their sheets way past morning. 00:03:59.830 --> 00:04:02.310 It's a very specific mood. It is. Think about 00:04:02.310 --> 00:04:04.610 that deeply relatable feeling for a second, right? 00:04:04.669 --> 00:04:06.490 You wake up, the alarm is going off, and you 00:04:06.490 --> 00:04:08.310 just hit the snooze button. We've all been there. 00:04:08.449 --> 00:04:10.139 Right. And you aren't doing it because you're 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:12.840 exhausted. You're hitting snooze because the 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:14.699 warmth of that moment, the comfort of simply 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:17.639 not wanting to leave your partner's side, completely 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:20.060 overshadows whatever emails or meetings are waiting 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:23.079 for you. You're actively choosing intimacy over 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:26.459 the demands of a Tuesday morning. Yes. That heavy, 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.600 suspended animation is exactly what a slow drip 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:32.100 synth is engineered to make you feel. But look, 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:35.279 crafting a brilliant, atmospheric R &B slow jam 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:39.050 is a major artistic achievement, sure. But in 00:04:39.050 --> 00:04:42.029 the context of a comeback album, it's only half 00:04:42.029 --> 00:04:43.970 the battle. Because you have to sell it. Exactly. 00:04:44.209 --> 00:04:46.529 The label still has to figure out how to deploy 00:04:46.529 --> 00:04:49.029 it to maximize its cultural footprint. Well, 00:04:49.029 --> 00:04:51.250 here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:04:51.250 --> 00:04:54.089 Lazy Love didn't launch in a vacuum. It was deployed 00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:56.370 as part of a calculated dual release. Right, 00:04:56.430 --> 00:04:58.750 a very strategic move. Neo and his team dropped 00:04:58.750 --> 00:05:02.149 two singles to precede the R .E .D. album. We 00:05:02.149 --> 00:05:04.629 have Lazy Love, which officially impacted U .S. 00:05:04.629 --> 00:05:08.149 Urban Radio on May 29, 2012. Okay. But right 00:05:08.149 --> 00:05:10.490 alongside it, we have its sister single Let Me 00:05:10.490 --> 00:05:12.709 Love You with the subtitle Until You Learn to 00:05:12.709 --> 00:05:15.870 Love Yourself. This dual release really exposes 00:05:15.870 --> 00:05:17.829 the heavy machinery of the pop music industry. 00:05:18.670 --> 00:05:21.889 You have two songs teasing the exact same album, 00:05:22.009 --> 00:05:24.490 but they are tasked with doing two completely 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:27.350 different jobs. Dividing and conquering. Precisely. 00:05:27.709 --> 00:05:31.029 Lazy Love is strictly targeted. It's the sultry, 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:33.970 down -tempo track meant to act as a peace offering 00:05:33.970 --> 00:05:37.970 to the core R &B audience. It says, I am still 00:05:37.970 --> 00:05:40.290 here, I still do this. And the other one, Let 00:05:40.290 --> 00:05:42.769 Me Love You, was directed squarely at the global 00:05:42.769 --> 00:05:45.970 mainstream. It featured explicitly Europop and 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:48.839 synthpop production elements. driven by a four 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.079 -on -the -floor dance beat. Wait, before we dive 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:52.879 deeper into that strategy, let's just clarify 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.480 those terms for everyone listening. When you 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.180 say four -on -the -floor, you mean that aggressive 00:05:56.180 --> 00:05:59.060 thumping bass drum hitting on every single quarter 00:05:59.060 --> 00:06:01.319 note? Yeah, exactly that. The pulse that basically 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:04.199 defined every massive club hit in the early 2010s. 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:06.079 That's the one. It is the rhythmic foundation 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.779 of electronic dance music. Right. And regarding 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:10.699 the targeting for Lazy Love, you mentioned it 00:06:10.699 --> 00:06:14.220 impacted U .S. urban radio. That is a specific 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:16.720 historical radio format in the United States 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.139 designed to cater to African -American audiences, 00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:22.540 heavily programming R &B, hip -hop, and soul. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:25.040 It operates on entirely different charts and 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:27.379 listener demographics than Top 40 Pop Radio. 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.399 So the strategy relies on literally splitting 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:33.579 his identity. He sends the slow jam to the stations 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:35.819 that supported him from day one, and he sends 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.420 the synth pop track to the massive pop stations. 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:40.800 That's the strategy. I have to play devil's advocate 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:43.459 here. Isn't that incredibly cynical? What do 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:45.660 you mean? Well, it feels less like an artist 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:48.259 sharing his soul and more like a politician trying 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:50.899 to pander to two totally different voting demographics 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:52.899 without letting them talk to each other. It is 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.699 a highly calculated move, yes. And you can absolutely 00:06:55.699 --> 00:06:58.069 view it as cynical. But you also have to view 00:06:58.069 --> 00:07:01.410 it as survival. Survival. Yes. Think about 2012. 00:07:02.250 --> 00:07:05.610 The mainstream pop charts were incredibly hostile 00:07:05.610 --> 00:07:09.449 to traditional R &B. Europop, EDM, and synthpop 00:07:09.449 --> 00:07:11.810 were dominating the global conversation. Right. 00:07:11.870 --> 00:07:15.029 Festival culture was booming. Exactly. Artists 00:07:15.029 --> 00:07:17.149 like David Guetta and Calvin Harris were setting 00:07:17.149 --> 00:07:20.560 the tempo for the entire industry. If a traditional 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:23.699 R &B artist wanted a global, undeniable radio 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:26.560 hit, they almost had to adopt that high BPM dance 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.759 sound to cut through the noise. But if he only 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.600 released the dance track, his day one fans would 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.680 probably revolt. Oh, they would have accused 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:36.199 him of abandoning his roots, of selling out to 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:38.779 the EDM wave, and coming off a divisive concept 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:41.139 album. That could have been a career -ending 00:07:41.139 --> 00:07:43.860 move. So the split single was a necessity. By 00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:46.519 executing a split single strategy, an artist 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:49.060 attempts to have it both ways. You feed the core 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:51.620 audience a sensual slow jam that speaks directly 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:54.660 to the genre's roots, and simultaneously, you 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:56.759 deploy a dance track to chase the lucrative pop 00:07:56.759 --> 00:07:59.670 charts. You're engineering music to satisfy distinct 00:07:59.670 --> 00:08:02.589 demographic buckets. And that compartmentalization 00:08:02.589 --> 00:08:05.449 completely dictated the visual execution of Lazy 00:08:05.449 --> 00:08:08.290 Love, too. The music video. Right. The music 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:11.490 video rollout is a masterclass in hyper -targeted 00:08:11.490 --> 00:08:13.709 marketing. Diane Martell directed the video, 00:08:13.850 --> 00:08:15.949 and she is brilliant at capturing the physical 00:08:15.949 --> 00:08:18.529 essence of a track. but the release schedule 00:08:18.529 --> 00:08:21.370 was intentionally fractured to match the fractured 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:23.449 release of the singles. They needed to play by 00:08:23.449 --> 00:08:25.389 the rules of different distribution channels 00:08:25.389 --> 00:08:29.240 while maximizing visibility. A one size fits 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:31.819 all video approach would have totally undermined 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.200 the targeted nature of the dual single strategy. 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:37.000 Exactly. So they premiered a clean version of 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.740 the music video on BT's 106 and Park on June 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:44.299 11, 2012. Which is a massive deal. Oh, 106 and 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:47.059 Park was an institution. If you wanted to reach 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:49.480 the heart of the R &B and hip hop demographic, 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:51.539 you went to that countdown show. It had a live 00:08:51.539 --> 00:08:53.440 audience. It was a major cultural touchstone. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:56.100 So they gave that television audience the broadcast 00:08:56.100 --> 00:08:59.100 safe, heavily censored. But then the very next 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:02.059 day, they dropped the explicit or dirty version 00:09:02.059 --> 00:09:05.080 of the video online on VEVO. Driving the trap? 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.320 Yeah. They used the television appearance to 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.659 drive internet traffic to an uncensored, highly 00:09:11.659 --> 00:09:14.940 provocative video that leans entirely into that 00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:17.679 languid, sheets -tangled intimacy the lyrics 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:20.980 describe. It's a multi -pronged attack. You secure 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:24.139 the prestige and cultural validation of a major 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:26.740 television premiere, which anchors the artist 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:29.679 within the community. But you also leverage the 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:32.399 unrestricted nature of the Internet to give fans 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.360 the raw, uncompromised visual representation 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.440 of the song. It really is about understanding 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.259 where your audience lives and how they consume 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:41.799 media. Precisely. OK, so he splits his musical 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:44.059 identity. He splits his video release. He does 00:09:44.059 --> 00:09:46.080 all this maneuvering to perfectly cater to his 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:49.549 R &B foundation. Did it actually work? Well, 00:09:49.549 --> 00:09:51.029 let's look at the numbers. Because looking at 00:09:51.029 --> 00:09:53.169 the Billboard data, Lazy Love doesn't immediately 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:55.970 scream world -conquering smash to me. Let's break 00:09:55.970 --> 00:09:58.549 it down. The track debuted on the Billboard Hot 00:09:58.549 --> 00:10:02.149 R &B and Hip Hop Songs chart at number 97. It 00:10:02.149 --> 00:10:04.210 steadily climbed and eventually peaked at number 00:10:04.210 --> 00:10:07.210 25. It also managed to crack the U .S. Bubbling 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:10.009 Under Hot 100 Singles chart, peaking at number 00:10:10.009 --> 00:10:13.210 14. And by the end of 2012, it landed at number 00:10:13.210 --> 00:10:16.490 97 on the year -end Hot R &B and Hip Hop Songs 00:10:16.490 --> 00:10:20.139 chart. See, a peak of number 25 on a genre -specific 00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:22.559 chart doesn't sound like a massive victory lap. 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:25.279 If you're a label executive looking at a spreadsheet, 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:27.899 you might even consider that a slight disappointment 00:10:27.899 --> 00:10:30.740 given Ne -Yo's superstar status. If we connect 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:32.779 this to the bigger picture, though, you have 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:35.539 to look past just the raw number. Viewed through 00:10:35.539 --> 00:10:37.620 the lens of the split single strategy we just 00:10:37.620 --> 00:10:40.240 analyzed, those numbers tell a story of strategic 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.659 success. Really? Yes. Remember, Lazy Love was 00:10:43.659 --> 00:10:45.840 never designed to be the global pop smash. That 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.419 was the other song's job. Lazy Love was designed 00:10:48.419 --> 00:10:51.580 to anchor the foundation. Ah, I see. For a slow, 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:54.100 atmospheric R &B jam in the heavily electronic 00:10:54.100 --> 00:10:57.460 landscape of 2012, peaking at number 25 and staying 00:10:57.460 --> 00:10:59.500 relevant enough to make the year -end list is 00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:02.100 actually a profound victory. It did exactly what 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:04.179 it was hired to do. Exactly what the machinery 00:11:04.179 --> 00:11:07.340 required. It reengaged the core audience. It 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:09.399 proved Neo still had a command of the genre. 00:11:09.659 --> 00:11:12.799 And it stabilized his brand so the pop single 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:15.000 could go chase the massive mainstream numbers 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:18.019 without risking a backlash from his loyalists. 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:20.720 It essentially bought him the cultural goodwill 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:23.139 required to experiment on the pop charts. That's 00:11:23.139 --> 00:11:25.460 a great way to put it. And it is wild to think 00:11:25.460 --> 00:11:28.179 about a song as a utilitarian tool like that. 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:31.320 But I think the mark of a truly foundational 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.220 piece of songwriting. is what happens when it 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:37.940 leaves its intended demographic entirely. When 00:11:37.940 --> 00:11:40.419 it takes on a life of its own. Yes. Once a song 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:42.600 is released, it stops being a tool for the record 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:44.779 label and starts belonging to the public. We 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:46.740 already mentioned that Ne -Yo performed the live 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:49.960 debut of Lazy Love on BET -T's 106 in Park, which 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:52.279 matched the clean video premiere. Which perfectly 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:54.519 fit the marketing brief. But the story takes 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:57.559 a massive detour two years later. It charts a 00:11:57.559 --> 00:12:00.059 course no executive in a boardroom could have 00:12:00.059 --> 00:12:02.460 predicted. The song's second life. Yeah. This 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:04.500 is where... the sheer quality of the songwriting 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:06.860 takes over from the marketing strategy. It's 00:12:06.860 --> 00:12:08.600 one of the most fascinating phenomena in the 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:11.720 music industry. So in May of 2014, an Australian 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:14.980 boy band called The Collective released an acoustic 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:18.799 cover of Lazy Love. Think about that job. We 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:21.360 are talking about a track built on a sonorous 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.679 bass and slow drip synths engineered specifically 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:28.639 for American urban radio, somehow finding its 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.960 way to an acoustic guitar in Australia. And it 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.309 started incredibly. quietly, too. The collective 00:12:33.309 --> 00:12:35.370 didn't launch this cover as a massive promotional 00:12:35.370 --> 00:12:38.210 vehicle. They included it as a B -side for the 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:41.029 physical release of their fourth single, a track 00:12:41.029 --> 00:12:43.250 called Burn the Bright Lights. Just a B -side. 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:45.029 Right. For anyone unfamiliar with the physical 00:12:45.029 --> 00:12:47.730 music era, a B -side was essentially a bonus 00:12:47.730 --> 00:12:50.549 track. It was the extra song tacked onto a CD, 00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:53.830 single, or vinyl record. Mostly there as a reward 00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:55.870 for the hardcore fans who actually went to a 00:12:55.870 --> 00:12:58.769 store and bought the physical copy. It is definitively 00:12:58.769 --> 00:13:01.169 not the main event. Not at all. It is an after. 00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:03.230 thought in the promotional cycle. Just a little 00:13:03.230 --> 00:13:06.330 treat tucked away at the end of a disc. But music 00:13:06.330 --> 00:13:09.350 has a funny way of making its own demands regardless 00:13:09.350 --> 00:13:12.269 of what the label intends. A strong melody and 00:13:12.269 --> 00:13:14.529 a relatable lyric have a way of demanding attention. 00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:18.450 During that era there was a huge trend of pop 00:13:18.450 --> 00:13:20.909 and acoustic artists covering traditional R &B 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:23.830 songs to showcase their vocal chops and add a 00:13:23.830 --> 00:13:25.960 bit of edge to their repertoire. And this acoustic 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.639 reinterpretation of Lazy Love really resonated 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.419 heavily with their fan base. It did. The stripped 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:33.100 -down arrangement highlighted the vulnerability 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:35.559 in the lyrics rather than just the physical intimacy. 00:13:35.860 --> 00:13:38.659 The fan reaction was so overwhelming that the 00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:41.240 record label actually had to pivot. The fans 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:44.600 forced their hand. Pretty much. Just over a month 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:47.519 later, on July 4, 2014, they officially upgraded 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:50.059 the Lazy Love cover, giving it a standalone digital 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:52.220 release and making it the collective's fifth 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:54.399 official single. So what does this all mean? 00:13:54.909 --> 00:13:57.590 We trace a song from its origins as a calculated 00:13:57.590 --> 00:14:00.870 genre -specific apology tour for an American 00:14:00.870 --> 00:14:04.190 R &B star, all the way to a standalone acoustic 00:14:04.190 --> 00:14:07.070 single for an Australian boy band on the other 00:14:07.070 --> 00:14:09.500 side of the planet. It's quite the journey. It 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:11.799 really is. It feels like the ultimate proof that 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.139 you can manipulate the release strategy, you 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:16.120 can target the demographics, and you can split 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:18.820 the music videos, but you cannot control the 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:21.720 art once it leaves the studio. A song about the 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.159 universal desire to stay in dead with someone 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:27.019 you care about translates across every boundary 00:14:27.019 --> 00:14:29.960 you can imagine. It strips away all the demographic 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:32.320 targeting. It moves from a synth -heavy explicit 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:36.039 R &B production to a clean acoustic vocal harmony. 00:14:36.139 --> 00:14:39.269 It crosses oceans and genre lines every - Just 00:14:39.269 --> 00:14:41.909 proving the strength of the song itself. Exactly. 00:14:41.909 --> 00:14:44.309 If the underlying architecture of a song, the 00:14:44.309 --> 00:14:46.610 chords, the melody, the emotional truth of the 00:14:46.610 --> 00:14:49.990 lyrics, isn't structurally sound, it simply cannot 00:14:49.990 --> 00:14:52.409 survive that kind of radical translation. It 00:14:52.409 --> 00:14:54.990 is a massive testament to what Shea Taylor and 00:14:54.990 --> 00:14:57.070 Neo built in that writing session. Every single 00:14:57.070 --> 00:14:59.750 song you hear on the radio or in a playlist represents 00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:02.629 this incredible tension. It is a collision of 00:15:02.629 --> 00:15:05.149 pure artistic expression, that languid desire 00:15:05.149 --> 00:15:08.049 we all feel, with highly targeted music production, 00:15:08.309 --> 00:15:11.070 wrapped in an intense calculated marketing strategy 00:15:11.070 --> 00:15:13.509 that attempts to predict human behavior. And 00:15:13.509 --> 00:15:16.730 often, that strategy requires artists to perform 00:15:16.730 --> 00:15:20.419 a delicate, almost agonizing balancing act. Neyo 00:15:20.419 --> 00:15:23.480 surveyed the musical landscape of 2012 and decided 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:26.799 he had to split his identity to survive. He delivered 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.340 an R &B slow jam to one audience and a Europop 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:31.279 dance track to another. It's a tough spot to 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.460 be in. It is. And it leaves you with a really 00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:35.960 provocative question to consider today. We now 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:38.379 live in an era of increasingly generalist music, 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.039 driven by algorithmic playlists that constantly 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.879 feed us a chaotic mix of every style imaginable. 00:15:43.980 --> 00:15:45.720 Right. The landscape has completely shifted. 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:48.429 So in this modern landscape, What happens to 00:15:48.429 --> 00:15:50.629 an artist's core identity when they are constantly 00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:53.450 pressured to divide their sound to cater to entirely 00:15:53.450 --> 00:15:56.129 different demographic buckets? Is it even possible 00:15:56.129 --> 00:15:58.389 to create a single piece of art that perfectly 00:15:58.389 --> 00:16:00.850 unites the core genre listener and the mainstream 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:03.649 club listener without fundamentally compromising 00:16:03.649 --> 00:16:06.710 the soul of the music? Or are artists doomed 00:16:06.710 --> 00:16:10.679 to always serve two masters? Wow, that completely 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:12.919 reframes how you look at the tracklist of any 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.440 major album today. The tension between the art 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:17.679 and the algorithm is everywhere once you know 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:20.360 to look for it. Thank you so much for joining 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:22.539 us on this deep dive into the machinery of a 00:16:22.539 --> 00:16:25.419 hit. We hope you walk away with a newfound appreciation 00:16:25.419 --> 00:16:28.419 for the strategy behind the synths. Keep questioning 00:16:28.419 --> 00:16:30.940 the media and the music you consume, look for 00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:32.899 the stories behind the songs, and we will see 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:33.480 you next time.