David Gray “Stella The Artist”

Should mvyradio be playing this song . . . or that song?

Picking a single that is really going to pull people’s attention to an album is not an exact science. But it is certainly an art.

Take the new David Gray, for example. Word had been, for several weeks, that the follow-up to “Fugitive” was going to be the beautiful duet with Annie Lennox, “Full Steam.” Their voices soar, and the arrangement is interesting. It seemed like a challenging, but satisfying choice.

At the 11th hour, the label changed his mind. I asked my friend Sean Coakley, an independent record promoter, why Downtown Records had switched to “Stella The Artist.”

Sean said, “Hopefully, because I convinced them to.”

His point was that the song was interesting. Striking even. But it wouldn’t stand up to multiple listens.

I always make the knock-knock joke analogy, in these situations. You may laugh your ass off the first time you hear a knock-knock joke. But is it still funny the 5th time you hear it. Is it funny after 6 months of hearing it regularly?

Other songs are like pizza. I could eat a slice every day, and never get sick of it. My attention turning to different flavors each time I bite in.

Ultimately, Sean felt, “Full Steam” just wouldn’t have a long life, as a radio single. The novelty of the duet would wear thin, quickly, in his opinion. And a long life at radio, is what propels listeners to seek out the full album, and hear the other amazing tracks.

Was Sean right? Which one of these songs would you have added to rotation?



See the video, here

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See this previous post, for details on how a song gets into rotation on mvyradio, then let me know what you think.