Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 1 OF 18 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Combs’ ‘All’ In CMA Video Of The Year Nominees Showcase On Charts Page 4 The State of The Promotional Art Songwriters Hall Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber sing “10,000 Hours” among tell it so that they hopefully feel another layer, something that is Adds Five 10,000 flowers. not just so obvious in the lyric.” Page 10 Miranda Lambert is a beautiful caged creature in a turn-of- With “Bluebird,” Lambert’s 10th video to earn a CMA nom- the-century vaudeville venue. ination for Fanjoy, she creates a gorgeous palette (Lambert is Carly Pearce and Lee Brice perform “I Hope You’re Happy adorned in blue feathers and Swarovski crystals) and an unspo- Now” as former lovers bump into each other in a parking lot. ken tension while capturing the hope at the heart of the song. Maren Morris’ Jake Owen re-creates the World War II love story of his Along with its four competitors vying for a win at the CMA’s Two TV Gigs grandparents. Nov. 11 ceremony, “Bluebird” neatly underscores the creative Page 11 Chris Stapleton becomes a Lego superhero, destroying a sea advance in production since the August 1981 debut of MTV ush- monster with sonic waves in the middle of an animated concert. ered in the video age nearly 40 years ago. The five finalists The industry’s for the Country Music earliest efforts were Musicians On Call Association’s video of the frequently referred For Vets year award are all distinctly to as “promotional Page 11 different. But those efforts videos” — they were have one thing in common: distributed for free to Each of them conveys and promote the song and Makin’ Tracks: enhances the core emotion artist on TV — though ‘Divine’ McBryde of the song they promote. the sophistication Single “The very best videos around them is more Page 15 make you experience and uniform in the current feel another layer of the age. They are much song emotionally,” says more ubiquitous, Trey Fanjoy, director of available on demand Country Coda: Lambert’s “Bluebird” clip. at multiple sites and Nelson’s 40-Year “Sometimes I’m a very integrated more ‘Road’ narrative storyteller, but thoughtfully into the Page 18 sometimes I like better Stapleton was reimagined as a Lego character in his “Second marketing of an artist, visual metaphors than I do To Know One” video (left), while Lambert offered a conceptual both on a creative level straight on the nose. I like to interpretation for her song “Bluebird.” and as a branding tool. BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 2 OF 18 “Every video is an opportunity to sort of enhance the brand of the art- ist and allow that to be an opportunity if you want to deliver a slightly dif- ferent viewpoint of the artist,” says Patrick Tracy, who directed “10,000 Hours.” “If you want to stamp a new era, we’ve done that with Dan + Shay throughout various album cycles with different colors. You’re evolving the brand through those visual impressions, but at the same time, you also have to think about the song itself and make sure you’re doing justice as a one- off, stand-alone piece.” Directors use three standard methods to create those pieces: the nar- rative video, which conveys a story; the concept video, featuring a series of images that add up to an emotion or provide a sense of what the song is about; and the performance video. Most videos employ at least two of those approaches, as “I Hope You’re Happy Now” does with a pair of actors playing out the song’s post-relationship narrative while Pearce and Brice re-create a performance in a small club. “You don’t want to be on the nose with a video,” says “Hope You’re Happy” director Sam Siske. “When you’re watching the video, you [usually] know the song, you follow the artist, so when you want to see the video, you want it to bring something new to that thought, but in a positive way and not de- tract from it. One thing I saw in each director’s work this year was, ‘How can we progress this song?’ ” Owen’s “Homemade,” directed by Several country artists participated on Oct. 27 in the second annual Justin Clough, brings out the old- Catchin’ Deers Mike Fisher Celebrity Clay Shoot for the Nashville fashioned values — dedication, sim- Predators Foundation. From left: High Valley’s Curtis Rempel, Jordan plicity, congeniality — at the heart of Davis, Dan + Shay’s Shay Mooney, Fisher and High Valley’s Brad Rempel. the song with a plot based on his grand- father’s sweet, but persistent, pursuit of his grandmother in the 1940s. Stapleton’s “Second To Know One,” directed by Pure Imagination Studios’ David Coleman, utilizes Lego anima- tion to make a cartoonish adventure out of a burning track. Both the song and the clip are built on conflict, though the OWEN MATTHEW PASKERT MATTHEW video puts a lighter spin on the record- ing’s fiery emotion. The video drops a number of Easter eggs: details that reward Stapleton superfans or might inform more casual listeners. For example, a stage crasher is inspired by an incident from a real-life Stapleton concert, a Picasso-like painting of him draws from the lyrics of his 2017 album cut “Up To No Good Livin’,” and a bird of prey is a nod to the mascot at Stapleton and Coleman’s high school alma mater in Kentucky: the Johnson Central Golden Eagles. Blasts from Stapleton’s animated guitar also embrace the value in his vocation. “The power of music can defeat this giant entity, this thing that seems in- Curb Records awarded Lee Brice a plaque acknowledging his surmountable, this thing that looks overwhelming,” says Coleman. “Music recent No. 1 single, “One of Them Girls,” as well as additional career helps you get through that, and especially the kind of music that Chris makes.” achievements. Participating were executives from exterior renovation The power of music is central to the power of the video, too. company Window World. From left: Curb vp promotion R.J. Meacham “You can make the most amazing video, but if it doesn’t have a song to and vp artist development and A&R Laurel Kittleson-Cobb, Brice and support it, it’s not going to have the impact that it needs to have,” observes Window World chairman/CEO Tammy Whitworth and board member Siske. “It’s not going to be the piece of art that it needs to be.” Jamie McBride. One way to judge a hit video is similar to the test of a hit song: It needs to wear well with successive exposure. “The replay value” is key, says Tracy. “If you watch a video once and it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s what the lyrics are talking about,’ you might as well just close your eyes and listen to the song. I think when videos are able to tap into a different interpretation of it, it leaves the viewer with a little bit more to sink their teeth into.” That includes the artist’s personality. In each of the nominated videos, the act had some very specific ideas about how to present the story and imagery in the project, reflecting their own history and experiences. In Stapleton’s case, he sought out the Lego involvement, a fantasy approach that fits with his surprise appearance in an episode of Game of Thrones. “Chris likes to push boundaries,” notes Coleman. “He likes to do new things and to create sounds that are unique to him. We tried to do that same kind of thing in the video.” Ultimately, as the video business evolves, this year’s CMA trophy will as- suredly go to a project that does what a great video should — supply a stellar song with a clip that lifts it to another level. Kelsea Ballerini performed “Girasoles” with Latin singer Luis “I am definitely of that MTV generation,” says Fanjoy. “I have to have Fonsi during the Oct. 26 CBS special Essential Heroes: A Memento enough to hold my attention.” Latino Event. BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 18 ON STHEa CHARTSmH JIMunt ASKER’ [email protected] Southside Rules Top Country ACombslbums; Debuts Brett Young At Hot ‘Catc Countryh’-es Fifth Songs Airplay Peak, HoldsLeader; At Travis No. 1 On Denning Top Country Makes Albums;History Stell Scores Second Country Airplay Leader Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil- (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s lion audience impressions, up 16%). Top Country Albums chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it Luke Combs’ “Forever After All” (River House/Columbia Nashville) blasts Streaming Songs survey, where it’s his highest-charting hit. The song sold earned 46,000 equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Youngachieves his fifth consecutive in atop Billboard’s airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs 52,000 downloads in the same frame and bounds in atop Country Digital cording to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.