Bieber Serves Beer
Long Island, N.Y., native Madison Beer, 14, is the latest breakout signee of Scooter Braun, manager of Justin Bieber, among others. First single “Melodies” (Island Def Jam) sold 9,000 downloads in its opening week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while the song’s official video has already drawn 1.2 million global YouTube views. Bieber is using his star power to boost Beer’s profile, tweeting about her as he did with Carly Rae Jepsen last year. He also appears in the clip for “Melodies.”
Young ‘Love’
American Young debuts at No. 60 on the Nielsen BDS-fueled Country Airplay chart with “Love Is War,” the twosome’s first single. Signed to Curb and working on their debut album, Kristy Osmunson and Jon Stone previously pursued country music careers individually. The fiddle-playing Osmunson was a founding member of female duo Bomshel (the pair charted seven songs on Country Airplay between 2006 and 2010), while Stone co-wrote and -produced Lee Brice’s chart-topping “A Woman Like You” and co-wrote Rascal Flatts’ “Me and My Gang.”
Winning ‘Battle’
Almost two years after first appearing on Uncharted, South Dakota sextet Paradise Fears sent their self-released “Battle Scars” to No. 7 on Heatseekers Albums in July. Now the band offers the stand-alone ballad “Who You Are,” which is more folk-leaning in sound than the act’s usual pop/punk fare. “If there’s one thing in life that I’ve learned so far,” Sam Miller sings on the track, “it’s that we’re all a little stronger than we think we are.”
Hometown Hero
South Central Los Angeles’ TeeFLii posts his first airplay chart appearance as “This D” (Epic) opens at No. 38 on Rhythmic. The DJ Mustard-produced track has been championed by hometown KPWR, which has played it nearly 800 times. As a teen, TeeFLii was known more for his dancing, and was featured in David LaChapelle’s 2005 krumping documentary “Rize” and made an appearance in 2007’s “Stomp the Yard.”
Reporting by William Gruger, Wade Jessen, Rauly Ramirez and Gary Trust.