Michael Marcagi came to an agreement somewhat with his manager in late 2023. The singer-songwriter had just finished a recording session at Woodstock, New York, and showed up with three songs that he felt captured the signature sound he was making, inspired as much by Bruce Springsteen as artists like Jim Croce and John Prine.
Marcagi was eager to release a song as a single before the end of the year, while his manager, Alex Brahl, hoped it would boost his presence on TikTok — and advocated a regular posting quota to increase exposure. “Five times a week, that was our ultimate deal,” Brahl recalls. “We were coming from scratch, more or less.”
The two studied how other artists used the platform to their advantage, and within weeks, Marcagi released his debut solo single, the simmering, acoustic guitar “The other side,” and had developed a following on the platform. By January, that fandom helped fuel the success of his next single, the crazier and more uptempo “Scared To Start.”
The following month, “Scared To Start” scored the artist his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a new high of No. 54 on this week's chart. The song — which appears on Marcagi's debut EP American romance — also entered the top 10 of the Hot Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs charts and marked Marcagi's return to Adult Alternative Airplay, having previously graced 2020 and 2021 with his former folk-rock band The Heavy Hours.
“I knew in the back of my head that I eventually wanted to write singer-songwriter music that was narrative-driven and talked about what I was feeling, what I he wanted to sing,” says Marcagi, who mentions that Heavy Hours broke up amicably a few years ago. However, the role of frontman propelled him for his solo career – particularly in the midst of his viral takeoff. “I needed those two years to play shows and have notches in my belt and learn the ropes,” he continues. “The music industry is weird. It's a difficult, somewhat lonely, intimidating place to be at times. I needed time to get used to it.”
Growing up in Cincinnati, Marcagi was drawn to producing “simple folk songs and acoustic guitars,” while his Midwestern upbringing inspired his lyrics. “I write a lot of songs from this feeling of being from a flyover state,” he says. (His brother and day-to-day manager, Andrew Marcagi, adds that “his blue-collar roots, without a doubt, have shaped Michael's lyrics and style.)
Marcagi is well aware that folk-pop is enjoying a mainstream resurgence, fueled in part by new partner Zach Bryan as well as Noah Kahan, the latter of whom is a big Marcagi fan. “I think it's so awesome that he's playing in stadiums of people screaming for Vermont,” he laughs. “This style of music is working right now and I'm so grateful that people have connected [‘Scared To Start’]. She's been this wild little rocket ship for the last two months.'
Brahl can trace the song's takeoff to a particular TikTok clip in which Marcagi plays guitar in a field of dead grass over the “Scared To Start” lyric “let's lay in the dead grass, look at the stars.” As Brahl recalls, after uploading the teaser on Dec. 19, the team went to lunch — and when they returned, the clip had 10,000 views. “I remember talking to Michael and saying, 'What if we wake up tomorrow and he's got 50,000?'” he says. “It had 100,000, and it was this completely organic thing that just kept going and going.”
In the days leading up to the holidays, Brahl sent the clip to a handful of labels, and by Christmas Eve, Marcagi and his team had chosen Warner Records as its home. He signed his deal in the first week of January and the following week, “Scared To Start” was released as his next single from American Romance, which arrived in early February. “One of the reasons we were so excited with Warner is that during the holidays we were talking to the digital team and planning. We were moving very, very fast,” says Brahl. “We had momentum and I've seen it too many times where people don't take advantage of it. We wanted.”
“We were aggressive out of the gate to attack the territories we knew would embrace the song with open arms,” says Will Morrow, Warner's vice president of viral marketing and digital development. Additionally, as senior vice president of digital marketing Dalia Ganz adds, Warner's digital teams have been quick to “leverage our deep relationship with TikTok to gain increased visibility for the song on the platform,” noting that they are now focusing on driving virality. for “Scared To Start” on other short form platforms such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
With the hit, Warner has another win and rising star on her roster, joining Teddy Swims and Benson Boone, who have both enjoyed top 5 hits in 2024. “Warner has emerged as a leader in defending this new generation of singer-songwriters and the return of guitars to pop music, and we recognized Michael as a standout in that space,” says Warner CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck. “He had a collection of songs that we loved and felt like he really understood how to authentically promote himself online.” (However, Marcagi is the first to admit that TikTok is still a strange, wild west for me.)
Marcagi recently returned to the same Woodstock studio to work on his debut full-length before hitting the road on tour. He's currently overseas – with dates in the UK, Ireland, Germany and elsewhere – and will begin his 23-year US tour in Denver in May. “It felt a lot like 'Quick, go!', but mostly organic,” says Brahl, noting that there's not yet a big TV campaign or coordinated radio promotion, nor any particular challenge for TikTok users to choose from.
Even so, Marcagi's friends send him a picture every time “Scared To Start” plays on the radio – which he says is probably the most surreal track yet. “I remember driving my dad's car and listening to Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers on the radio when I was in high school,” he recalls. “It's a weird full-circle moment to say, 'I can't believe that out of all the artists putting out music, they're choosing to play my song.' It's really, really wild.”
A version of this story will appear in the April 27, 2024 issue Advertising sign.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/michael-marcagi-scared-to-start-april-2024-chartbreaker-interview-1235659633/