On the heels of his 2019 Billboard Music Award nomination for “Top New Artist,” announced this morning, twenty-one-year-old Lebanese/American r&b/pop phenomenon Bazzi has released the official follow-up to his back-to-back top 10 singles, “Mine” and “Beautiful.” Marking the rapidly rising star’s first new solo music in a year, “Paradise” is available now at all DSPs and streaming services HERE. The track, set to impact Top 40 radio on April 14 and be featured in the upcoming film The Sun Is Also A Star, is joined by an enchanting official video, shot in Mexico City and directed by Bon Duke. Streaming now HERE. “Paradise,” written entirely by Bazzi and co-produced by Bazzi and GRAMMY-nominated duo Rice N’ Peas (G-Eazy, Fletcher), captures the state of mind when two young lovers discover bliss in each other’s company, regardless of geographic location.
“It’s not about a location or vacation, it’s about portraying the feeling of ‘Paradise’ that can truly exist anywhere,” Bazzi says. “For me, I always think so vividly of my Friday nights when I was in high school. I feel nostalgia and mystery around them and I really wanted to capture those feelings in this record. When people listen, I want to take them back to those times and give them that mood and feeling.”
“Paradise” arrives fast on the heels of Bazzi’s multi-dimensional track, “Caught In The Fire,” released earlier this week with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1 and available for streaming and download HERE. In the track, Bazzi sings “we let a racist orange man be the President…” and continues on as a voice for our youth, saying “We’ve been caught in the fire…we’ve lost all desire…we’re beaten and blue. I pray we save us from ourselves, cause nobody else can do that for you.”
“’Caught In The Fire’ was a really important record for me, not only as an artist but as a human,” Bazzi says. “There’s pent up emotion, anger and frustration with a lot of the things going on in this world and the song felt like an exhale for me. It allowed me to let go of some things that were bothering me. The verses have a sort of anger to them, this urgent feeling, and then the hook portrays the vulnerable, soft side of me that is really the root of all the pain you’re hearing in the verse.”
A 2018 MTV Video Music Award “Best New Artist” nominee, Bazzi is slated for a number of upcoming live events and music festivals, including his debut performances at Indio, CA’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Saturday, April 13 and 20. In addition, the 21-year-old, Michigan-born r&b/pop wordsmith will co-headline Harvard University’s annual Yardfest Music Festival, set for Sunday, April 7 at the college’s historic Tercentenary Theater. Other upcoming appearances include performances at Gulf Shores, AL’s Hangout Music Fest (Saturday, May 18) and New York City’s Governor’s Ball (Sunday, June 2), as well as a much-anticipated co-headline double bill with fellow Atlantic recording artist Lizzo, set for Friday, June 21 at Kansas City, MO’s Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland. For complete details and ticket availability, please visit www.bazziofficial.com.
This week’s dual release marks Bazzi’s first new solo music since his nearly RIAA platinum certified debut album, COSMIC, available for streaming and download HERE. Now boasting over two billion global streams and counting, the album proved an unequivocal worldwide success upon its release last year, fueled in part by the breakthrough hit singles, “Mine” and “Beautiful.”
Currently certified 3x platinum by the RIAA, “Mine” is a true pop sensation, reaching #1 at CHR/Top 40 while ascending to top 3 at Rhythmic and #11 on the overall Billboard“Hot 100.” Named among Billboard’s “50 Best Songs of 2018 (So Far),” the single went on to be ranked as the year’s 13th most played track, as well as the only track on Variety‘s “Most-Consumed Songs of 2018” chart to be written entirely by one person.
Boasting over 990M streams to date, “Mine” reached #1 on Apple Music’s “Pop Streaming” chart and Shazam’s “Global Top 100,” and went top 5 on Spotify’s overall “Global Top 50.” Indeed, the single proved a worldwide favorite, earning 2x platinum in Australia, 3x platinum in Canada, and platinum in both New Zealand and Sweden. As if all that weren’t enough, the “Mine” companion video is a massive favorite, now with over 131 million views via YouTube alone HERE.
“Beautiful (Ft. Camila Cabello)“ – available for streaming and download HERE – followed and quickly proved Bazzi’s second top 40 hit on Billboard’s “Hot 100,” ultimately earning 2x platinum certification in the United States, along with both Australia and Canada. The track came accompanied by a spectacular companion visual, now boasting with over 103 million views HERE.
COSMIC – which also features such stand-out tracks as “Honest,” “Myself,” “3:15“ and “Why?“ – reached the top 15 on the SoundScan/Billboard 200, with similar rankings in Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and more. The album received wide-ranging critical applause alongside its popular success, with Billboard praising its “slinky, R&B-infused pop” and Playboy hailing the collection as “genre-bending,” praising Bazzi’s “warts-and-all approach to songwriting.” “Bazzi’s COSMIC seems primed to linger near the top of the albums chart for quite a while,” wrote Stereogum, while USA Today echoed, “Bazzi’s career is just getting started.”
Hailed by Rolling Stone as an “Artist You Need To Know,” Bazzi spent much of last year on THE COSMIC TOUR, including a sold-out headline run, a special guest role on Camila Cabello’s sold out “Never Be The Same” North American tour, support on the European leg of Justin Timberlake’s blockbuster “Man Of The Woods Tour,” and a number of iHeartRadio Jingle Ball shows. Bazzi also proved an in-demand TV performer, with a dozen high profile live performances throughout 2018, including NBC’s TODAY and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and two visits to the nationally syndicated Ellen DeGeneres Show.