Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
You may not know the name X Ambassadors, but you probably do know one of their songs. They collaborated with Jamie n Commons and Jay-Z on the 2014 track Jungle, which appeared everywhere from a Beats advert and the Brazil World Cup TV coverage to Orange is the New Black trailers and the Pitch Perfect soundtrack. Jungle reached the UK top 20 but didn’t fulfil its potential to become a global hit. However, 7 years after they formed, X Ambassadors are now on track to finally have their breakthrough moment. The New York rock group’s new single Renegades is an uplifting, radio-friendly track with an affecting video, which shows people with disabilities overcoming challenges, inspired by the story of the band’s blind keyboard player Casey Harris. Renegades has reached the top 10 in six countries so far, and in the US has gone platinum and hit no.1 on the Billboard rock and adult charts. It entered the UK chart on Friday at no.62 and as it’s now no.1 on Shazam’s new release chart, I predict it will be storming to the top over the next few weeks. X Ambassadors are signed to producer Alex da Kid’s label KIDinaKORNER alongside Imagine Dragons, whose lead singer is credited with discovering them.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u-niluB8HI]