Sound Signal is a bi-weekly newsletter produced by Third Bridge Creative for people in the music industry that identifies emerging artists, tracks, as well as new scenes and genres. This week, we’re diving into a content creator-turned-viral producer, tracks from Jeymes Samuel's The Book of Clarence, and exploring how Muni Long keeps winning at social media. If you enjoy this newsletter, pass it on to a friend. They can sign up here.

TRENDING ARTISTS

Tiagz

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

TBC Score: 67

Canadian content creator Tiagz has been chasing viral fame for the better part of the decade through the remixes and music content he’s posted to YouTube and TikTok. In 2020, Pitchfork referred to him as “the most hated producer on TikTok,” who drew negative attention for his constant flipping of memes into low-effort viral tracks, but in the years since, he’s re-emerged as a sincere producer of dance music. His track “Tacata,” which draws on the influence of the Brazilian genre baile funk, has taken off on TikTok, soundtracking over 1M videos, and has drawn genuine appreciation from the sorts of sources that once criticized him. A new remix, featuring Regional Mexican stars Fuerza Regida and dembow icon El Alfa, seems poised to send the track to even greater heights, proof of his understanding of the viral ecosystem. 

Gavin Adcock

Genre: Country

TBC Score: 80

Like Sound Signal alum Austin Williams and Dylan Gossett, former Georgia Southern University nose tackle Gavin Adcock has been savvily using TikTok—where he has 324K followers—to his advantage, posting jokes and relationship musings to clips of his music. Since the 25-year-old self-released his debut album, Bonfire Blackout, last May, half of its songs have racked up Spotify streams in the millions; two tracks have over 13M. “Four Leaf Clover,” Adcock’s new single, reached 700K Spotify streams and 147K YouTube views within six days of its release on January 19. And his forthcoming southern tour, on which he’ll play a show in Louisiana with Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, and Hank Williams, Jr., is almost sold out. Not too shabby.

The Last Dinner Party

Genre: Indie Rock

TBC Score: 70

With their extravagant baroque-pop arrangements and Victorian-era outfits, British indie rock band The Last Dinner Party catapulted into the spotlight last year and only continues to grow. Following their breakout April 2023 single “Nothing Matters” (24.9M Spotify streams), the five-piece group has captivated listeners with their art punk attitude that subverts 19th century European aesthetics. As hype grows around their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, due out in February, they’ve gained 1.4M Spotify monthly listeners (103.33% increase) and 32K TikTok followers (79.4% increase) in the past month alone. With a North American tour slated for the spring, their stateside crossover seems imminent.

Qing Madi

Genre: Afrobeats, Pop

TBC Score: 73

It's early, but Qing Madi has the tools to be an Afrobeats star. Her BNXN-assisted 2023 single, "Ole" has collected over 11.8M Spotify streams, and its video has over 9.3M YouTube views and a solid presence on TikTok. Songs like "American Love" are picking up steam, too. More qualitatively speaking, Qing's voice is gentle and intimate, like a best friend's secret, a quality that imbues her songs with engrossing layers of vulnerability and understated cool; think Aaliyah. At only 17, she's got a lot of time to refine her craft and further develop her audience. 

TRENDING TRACKS

Made famous as the opening song from the anime Mashle, “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” by Creepy Nuts has taken on the sort of viral life that many anime theme songs have in recent years. But what makes the Japanese rap duo’s rise unique is how genuinely bizarre the song is. Mashing up rapid-fire bars with a jaunty, showtunes-esque chorus, rattling bed squeaks, and kick-drum hopscotching ripped from Jersey Club, it’s a genre-obliterating pop-rap track that feels as head-spinning as any hyperpop cut. It’s already appearing big on the internet and has soundtracked over 113K videos on TikTok, and it’s likely only beginning its rise. 

Although an impossible listen during A.D. 33, The Jones Girls’ “Nights Over Egypt” surprisingly made its way into the new Jeymes Samuel-directed biblical epic, The Book of Clarence. The 1981 deep cut proved fitting for the film’s scene of a playful dance-off between partygoers in Jerusalem, a memorable watch for fans and first-time listeners of the Detroit sister trio. Over 40 years separated from its debut on The Jones Girls’ third album, Get as Much Love as You Can, “Nights Over Egypt” has broadened the group’s reach since being featured in the film. In the past month, The Jones Girls have experienced a 59.1K increase in Pandora streams. 

Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Anuv Jain has reached new heights with his hit “Husn,” a heartbreaking acoustic guitar ballad that’s racked up 229K Instagram reels and 30.6M YouTube views since its Nov 30 release. Even without an EP or album, the independent artist had already had a sizable Spotify listenership of 4.2M monthly listeners before releasing the song—mostly due to his prominent presence on Instagram reels, causing virtually all of his singles to blow up since his studio debut, 2018’s “Baarishien.” Fueled by plenty of fan covers, “Husn,” which means “external beauty” in Hindi, has brought Jain to a new peak of 10.8M Spotify monthly listeners, making for a rare indie success story. 

On January 6, UK musician and director Jeymes Samuel caused a frenzy when he revealed in a press interview that D’Angelo and Jay-Z collaborated on a new song, “I Want You Forever” for the star-studded soundtrack of his biblical satire film, The Book of Clarence. A psychedelic funk groove sporting D’Angelo’s soulful wails and a Jay-Z cameo, the nine-minute love fest has racked up 315.7K Spotify streams with placements on its R&B Weekly and BUTTER playlists since the January 12 release of Samuel’s latest film and soundtrack of the same name.   

TREND OF THE WEEK

By Kemet High 

Muni Long is the queen of integrating social media campaigns with her discography. It all started back when Muni released her platinum single “Hrs and Hrs” in November 2022. She started the #HrsandHrsChallenge where over 2.6M users have used the sound to showcase their relationships. “Hrs and Hrs” became inescapable, and soon, it was used for songs that had nothing to do with romance. That’s the Muni Long strategy. 

She’s back using her viral formula for her latest single, “Made For Me,” the slinking ballad written by R&B royalty Jermaine Dupri and Brian Michael Cox released last September. As before, Muni uses herself as ground zero for how she’d like to see fans engage with her music: In October, she used the track while getting glammed, sitting pretty, and making jokes. But she also rest assured in the fact that “Made for Me” was another strong song. In December, Muni performed the growing track at BET’s Soul Train Awards, exposing audiences who may have missed it growing online to it on national television.

By early January, a woman named Praises Allen, performing the song in what appears to be a Marshall’s store wearing blue pajamas uploaded three clips (with over 13M combined views). She captured the visceral reaction of how many listeners were singing the songs in their own homes. Additionally, Gen Z and millennial R&B fans from countries like the U.S., Canada, South Africa and Australia (among others) followed suit in creating their own iterations—Muni even did her own rendition in a pair of green pajamas. Since Allen’s video, other users have followed suit with over 300K creations made to the sound in the last month. 

With the potency and impact of both the Grammy award-winning “Hrs and Hrs” and the Billboard Hot 100 charting “Made For Me,” Muni represents a wave of songwriters who are creating their own solo pathway to success. Similar to Victoria Monét, R&B didn’t typically live on the internet and songwriters usually stayed out of the spotlight. However, Muni’s output over the last couple of years is showcasing a change of the times. Victory in traditional R&B isn’t linear. It looks like the long game pays off after all.