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| K. Coleman (2024) |
The dawn of YouTube gave all kinds of creatives an incredible gift. The ability to create content directly onto a global viewing platform. People started shooting comedic shorts, "how-to" tutorials, podcasts, "vlogs", and song recordings. "YouTubers" came along with all kinds of skillsets. That sentence may trigger some critics of this wave, but stars like Zoe "Zoella" Sugg and Tyler Oakley were examples of on-air talent providing more authenticity than you'd find in reality TV. Ratings did matter, but there was more independence. There weren't network execs gatekeeping who got to broadcast. The closest thing were search algorithms.
Okay, back to music. Record companies could now bypass music-themed television in order to make videos more accessible. Musicians from around the world gained an ability to reach a broader audience. Viktoriya Yermolyeva could perform livestreamed concerts while a significant other (known as "Sweety") moderated a group chat that allowed the musician to interact with her audience. Just as with Vika, I learned about Boyce Avenue through their covers. In most videos, you'll likely see just one of the Floridian brothers singing with another YouTube borne artist. The band comprises of Alejandro Manzano and his brothers Fabian and Daniel. The videos often feature their covers, but original songs are being added to the catalog. My first Boyce Avenue song was an interpretation of Bryan Adams's "Heaven".
Adams has some great ballads to his name, but "Heaven" particularly had versatility. DJ Sammy and Yannu (a third of Cascada) remixed "Heaven" into one of the major club tracks of the 90's. Adams would record an acoustic variant. This pulled the power ballad into a more intimate and direct expression of love. Both versions are rouse passion through their captivating depth, but alternate versions played to different tastes. As can be said for the club mix. Boyce Avenue's version stood out because they turned the acoustic composition into a vocal duet featuring Megan Nicole. The majesty of a Bryan Adams ballad with a chemistry more like what's found in the Civil Wars. ... The dynamic between John Paul White and Joy Williams was platonic, right?
Diving deeper into the Boyce Avenue's work, you pick up their taste in song choices. Just as Vika loves her metal, Boyce Avenue's focal point tends to be acoustic covers of romantic pop songs with vocal harmonies, and usually a female guest singer whose voice can form a complimentary combination with Alejandro's. In recent months, the Manzanos have even found a way to work with "All the Small Things". Listening to the lyrics, it's a song of romance a little more intimate than other Blink 182 love songs like "First Date". Boyce Avenue's ability to cover a wide range of pop songs and make them their own reminds me of an a cappella group called the Blanks, a group who gained recognition through Sam Lloyd's role on the sitcom "Scrubs". While some of the Blanks' recordings followed in the comedic footprint of Scrubs, their most notable song is likely their cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya!" on camera for Janitor's Bahamian wedding. Similar to Boyce Avenue's take on Blink 182, the Blanks were able to demonstrate how to reconstruct a fast tempo'ed pop hit into a sappy wedding song. Coincidentally, both groups have covered Rihanna's "Only Girl in the World".
When I saw a Boyce Avenue show coming up on the concert calendars, I decided that it could be a fun night out. I had been to the Brighton Music Hall last year for Miya Folic's Roach tour. MBTA-wise, you daisy-chain your way through a few bus routes to Huntington Ave, and out to Brighton on a route arcing north to Harvard. Unfortunately, I arrived halfway through the opening act (I'm trying to get better at this). It didn't surprise me at all when Boyce Avenue chose to uplift a pair of YouTube musician sisters (Jaclyn and Megan Davies) when selecting the opening act for their eight city tour. "MEG + JAC" have invididual YouTube content channels, many videos as a duo, and a Noah Kahan cover collaboration with Boyce Avenue. Similar to the Manzanos' developmental path as songwriters, MEG + JAC have started releasing original material. Composition-wise, I imagine that they've probably got some practice not just through interpreting other people's songs into an acoustic Aly & AJ-esque sound. They also had something to gain from how they arrange songs together into mash-ups. So far, the Davies sisters have two original singles, "Makes No Sense" has a more even pacing. "Own My Body" gets more ambitious, changing the rhythm of how many syllables fit in a line. These songs and the chemistry of MEG + JAC onstage together have me interested in seeing where their careers go. Boyce Avenue did a fine job in helping to raise the Davies' profile in the music industry, and if anything I wish that they could have all preformed together at the end of the night.
The Boyce Avenue setlist included some original work from the first and last studio albums. With the wide variety of songs that the Manzano brothers cover, their original work comes across in a way comparable to Ed Sheeran. Romantic, with a heavy beat, and versatile in their range of styles. For the most part, set was a celebration of the music that they were covering, and Boyce Avenue's interpretation (ditto for Meg & Jac). Many of Boyce Avenue's covers for the night drew from 90's top 40, with smatterings of more recent hits. It was a night of millennials sharing a nostalgic love for music. The Goo Goo Dolls, Eagle Eye Cherry, Kings of Leon, the Killers...
My closing thought is of a musician who built a recording career on covers, but before the age of YouTube. Before her death 28 years ago, Eva Cassidy built her career through working with bands, recording session work, and her music reaching the right producers' ears. Eva spent only four years as a solo act. She released a live album that documented a show performed at the Blues Alley in her hometown of Washington, DC. From then on, all releases have been drawn from live shows, rehearsal tracks, work with Chuck Brown, and a precious few other recordings. Her was taste in music to cover was almost as identifiable as her voice. Whether it be through adult contemporary radio stations, the Dawson's Creek season finale, Delilah Luke's syndicated radio show, or YouTube, Eva Cassidy has gained far more of a fanbase in the past decades than she could ever have imagined. It's a tragedy that Eva didn't get the chance to see her music capture the hearts of 316 K YouTube subscribers, or for that fanbase to gather and see her perform. Mourning what could've been, I applaud the Davies, the Manzanos, and other artists who are able to benefit from social media exposure. Uploading covers onto YouTube was how a 14 year-old Kayleigh Amstutz grew up to become Chappell Roan.
Til next time readers!
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