adam, jack and ryan are ajr and they are this months one to watch artist

December’s ‘One to Watch’ artist is Indie pop trio AJR.

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Born and raised in New York City, AJR consists of multi-instrumentalist brothers Adam (bass, vocals), Jack (vocals, guitar) and Ryan (ukulele, piano, vocals) Metzger. When it comes to their music style, it’s been described as “electric, combining elements of pop, doo-wop, electronic, and dubstep.”

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Kicking off their music career in 2005, Adam, Jack and Ryan began writing, mixing, and producing music in the living room of their Chelsea apartment in Manhattan, New York. By 2006, they were busking in both Central Park and Washington Square Park and in 2010, released two albums, Venture and Born and Bred, and dropped their debut EP, 6foot11, which was later re-named ‘I’m Ready’ in December of 2013.

Fast forward to the end of 2019, AJR earned RIAA double platinum certifications for breakout singles ‘I’m Ready’ and ‘Weak,’ and earned platinum certifications for ‘Burn The House Down and ‘Sober Up,’ which features Rivers Cuomo (Weezer). ‘Sober Up’ landed on Spotify’s ‘Best Rock Songs of 2010’s, and ‘Weak’ was named one of Apple Music’s ‘Best Alternative Songs of 2010’s.’

When recording new music, Ryan explains, “We always ask, ‘Why not?’ as opposed to, ‘Why?’ We are always like, ‘Let’s experiment. Let’s find sounds you don’t hear. Let’s write about topics that aren’t usually discussed. Let’s wrap it all up in a package accessible to a five-year-old and a 95-year-old.’”

Ryan continues, “No matter what we’ve always tried to take some weird influence from our childhood that sparked us to want to write music and inject that in and exhale a modern 2020 version of it that feels cool to everybody. We tried to do that a lot on Neotheater with the close-harmony choirs, with the big finale that had a 1940s orchestra. So it’s a really good feeling to be able to recapture that part of our brain that got us so excited originally.”

AJR has managed to accumulate more than two billion streams worldwide and over 200 million views on Youtube. They’ve performed at various music festivals including Forecastle, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds and Bumbershoot.

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Neotheater, which is AJR’s most recent album, is said to be ‘their most daring release yet.’ Released on January 30, 2019, AJR dropped ‘100 Bad Days,’ which is the first single off the album. The song was also included on Taylor Swift’s Apple Music playlist, ‘Playlist by ME!’ in May of 2019.

In March and April of 2019, the band released the album’s second and third single, ‘Birthday Party’ followed by ‘Dear Winter.’ Neotheater debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums, number one on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums, and number eight on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums.

Back in February AJR released their new single, ‘Bang!’ along with a music video. A follow-up single was released in August titled ‘Bummerland.’ According to the group, both singles will be part of a new album, arriving end of 2020 or early 2021.

For AJR, translating their fears, anxieties and life lessons into song is in many ways an escape from the real-life pressures they face on a daily basis. Ryan admits, “We conceptualized a world where we wouldn’t have to learn any of those life lessons and just pretend instead. We needed this, because it’s been an emotional year for us. A lot happened with the band. It’s been fun diversifying.”

Watch AJR’s interview with Zach Sang below.