Author Topic: "Everyone Is Gay" by A Great Big World (two guys from NYU who writes and sings)  (Read 3657 times)

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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"Everyone Is Gay"
by
A Great Big World
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VG1bj4Lj1Q[/youtube]

Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino
A Great Big World

Published on Jun 30, 2013


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/ian-axel-chad-vaccarino-find-success-in-great-big-world/Content?oid=2636448

November 28, 2013 Arts » Pop Music & Jazz
Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino
find success in
A Great Big World
By Tom Lanham

It’s an unlikely success story. Dry- witted, professorial-looking New York University students Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino met while enrolled in NYU's Steinhardt Music Program and began collaborating on show tune-y music. With Vaccarino as co-writer and manager, Axel released an unsuccessful solo CD. So they rechristened themselves as a duo, A Great Big World, and their Broadway-style compositions went everywhere. One early number, “This is the New Year,” was performed by the cast of TV’s “Glee,” and poignant piano ballad “Say Something” (from the duo’s new EP of the same name), recut with Christina Aguilera, went to No. 1 on iTunes after being featured on “The Voice.” The full-length “Is There Anybody Out There?” is due next year.


How did you guys meet?

Ian Axel: We met because Chad was in one of my classes, and I was looking for someone to write music with. I knew that he wrote his own music, and he seemed nice, so I found out he was going to be in a practice room, practicing his trumpet. He’d already said he was too busy to hang out or hear any new people or work on any music, so I stalked him. I went down these crazy corridors where everyone was practicing, and I looked in each little window until I found him. And then I convinced him to be my friend, because I played him my music and he actually liked it.

Trumpet?

Chad Vaccarino: I know, I know! But I played trumpet in middle school, and I don’t know why I picked it up again. I was in a band at the time in college, and for some reason I was like “Yeah! I’ll pick up trumpet as an extra instrument!” And now we’ve been playing it in our show, and it’s a good touch — a nice introduction to what we’re all about.

What crucial things did you learn from the music-biz courses?

IA: I think the publishing stuff and the legal stuff was really helpful, because we had to read so many contracts after college. And on the publishing side of things, we’re songwriters at heart, so just figuring out how splits work when we started writing was essential.

So you never needed a lawyer — you can parse a record deal yourselves?

IA: I think we definitely need a lawyer now. The contracts are way too intense and there’s just too much at stake. The contracts are like novels at this point in our career!


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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"This Is The New Year"
by
A Great Big World
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZf-SDxwA20[/youtube]
sung by
the Glee Cast
written by
Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino
A Great Big World
Published on Jan 25, 2013

"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a18857/a-great-big-world-interview/


JAN 22, 2014
CULTURE MUSIC

A GREAT BIG WORLD
TALKS
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
AND WRITING
'THE GAYEST SONG EVER'
BY DAVID YI


Consider them the Revenge of the Nerds of pop music: A Great Big World, New York-based duo Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino, is the perfect mélange of pop rock, Broadway, and thick-framed glasses. The group quietly crept into the mainstream when their now hit singles were featured on shows like So You Think You Can Dance, The X-Factor, and Glee.

These days, when the group isn't rubbing elbows with the likes of Taylor Swift—"She introduced herself to us like we didn't know her!"—they're writing their first Broadway musical. And it's safe to say that they've come a long way from the $15,000 Kickstarter campaign they launched to record their first six tracks.

Here, ELLE.com spoke with the band about working with Christina Aguilera, the story behind "Say Something," their Broadway career, and why everyone is just a little gay.



Congratulations on your chart-topping single, "Say Something." You both thought that when Christina Aguilera reached out it was a joke.

IA: I started shaking because I didn't process it but I knew at my core what this meant for our lives. I knew that it was going to be different forever.

Tell me about that day and the recording process.

CV: We were so nervous going into the process and they also had two cameras on us to capture the entire process.

IA: There was no producer there so it was all on us. Which, I wouldn't have had it any other way...

"Say Something" has topped the charts. Tell me the first time you heard it on the radio.

CV: That was a beautiful, amazing moment for both of us.

IA: We were driving back from a gig in New Jersey and listening to Sirius because they were one of the first stations to play it. We plugged our iPad into the speakers...

CV: I actually signed up for a free trial with Sirius just to see if we could hear it.

IA: The minute that we plugged it in is when they played it and we both just shut up. We were so silent we went into our own worlds.

Why do you think that song became so big?

IA: It's very emotional and raw. Maybe that rawness is speaking through all the songs that are out there because it's so quiet. When you're listening to the radio you're hearing dance beats, all the bells and whistles and "Say Something" makes you quiet and forces you to listen.

CV: There's a pain chord that the song is striking.

What is the song about for you guys?

IA: We were both in toxic relationships in our minds and we thought these two people were people who they were not. It was four years ago and we were younger. We were afraid to let go.

I've heard you guys are writing for a Broadway show, is that true?

IA: We are actually writing the music and we can say that we've actually performed some of the songs in some performances across the country.

You have a single called "Everyone Is Gay." Tell us about it.

CV: Our friends run a website called EveryoneIsGay.com. It really is a site that helps kids with their sexuality. They asked us to write the gayest song ever for their compilation album. I wanted to take it as an opportunity to speak to the kids who were being bullied and confused in this moment in their lives. I wish I had a song like this to tell me that. Struggling with your sexuality is the hardest thing in the world when you're a kid.

Are you both single, or taken?

IA: I have a girlfriend and she really keeps me grounded. Makes me normal.

CV: I'm actually very single and looking. But it's hard finding a relationship when you're on the road! I want to explore this part of my life because I haven't been able to.

What's your career trajectory? Who do you want to emulate?

IA: There are people we look up to like Lady Gaga and what she's built. She's not afraid to own who she is.

CV: Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé are superstars. The end goal isn't to be a superstar, it's to connect with more people. Is it weird that I said the end goal isn't to be a superstar? I feel the superstardom is to put out the most honest product out there.


The band released their debut album, Is There Anybody Out There? via Black Magnetic/Epic Records this week.


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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"Say Something"
by
A Great Big World
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds#t=182[/youtube]
sung by
A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
written by
Ian Axel, Chad Vaccarino and Mike Campbell
A Great Big World
Published on Nov 20, 2013


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"