Shaboozey's “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” updates a long-standing tradition in country music — drowning your sorrows in whiskey — via J-Kwon's 2004 rap hit “Tipsy.” The first time the singer played it for his label, EMPIRE, one question was on the minds of those in attendance: “Everybody was like, 'When are you going to get on country radio?' recalls EMPIRE's CEO Gas pedal.
In Ghazi's view, this was a “very limited” plan. He had a more ambitious one: Push the song into multiple formats at once. “For a record like that,” he says, “it's meaningless.” Shaboozey released “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in April. within a month, EMPIRE promoted it to five different segments of the airwaves.
Radio promotion is traditionally expensive, which is why it's one of the last frontiers in a music industry still dominated by major labels. However, the independently released “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” recently became the first top 10 single in history Advertising signcharts for country airplay, pop airplay, adult pop airplay and rhythmic airplay. (Adult pop is like regular pop but more laid-back, while rhythm usually mixes rap, R&B, and some dance music. Ratings are based on airplay from a panel of stations in each format.)
“It's important that Shaboozey was able to show that you can do this as an independent artist,” he says Heather Vassar, senior vice president of operations for EMPIRE in Nashville. “We had a lot of offers from major labels wanting to work on the record, and it was really important to stay true to our modus operandi” — and scale the charts without their help. All that airplay counts on the Hot 100, which Shaboozey has topped twice in non-consecutive weeks. Notably, when “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” climbed to No. 1 on the latest chart, it saw a drop in streams and sales, but was up 11% in the radio audience.
Songs that do well in multiple venues on the airwaves usually unite coalitions of similar styles. Miley Cyrus' “Flowers” and The Weeknd's “Blinding Lights,” for example, landed at No. 1 on pop, adult pop, and adult contemporary. “Typically pop shares a lot with adult contemporary,” he says Tom Poleman, head of programming at iHeartMedia. “It's a similar team [of listeners]just an older demographic.”
R&B's biggest hits, however, tend to garner a different support base. Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and TI's “Blurred Lines” and Mariah Carey's “We Belong Together,” both major radio hits, reached No. 1 in adult R&B, mainstream R&B/hip-hop, rhythm and pop.
EMPIRE, which has traditionally been strong in hip-hop and Afrobeats, often pushes songs into mainstream R&B/hip-hop, rhythm and pop, according to Ghazi. But Shaboozey's combination of forms is unusual. Only 13 songs have ever appeared on all four charts where it now enters the top 10.
Country radio in particular has faced criticism in recent years for not wanting to support songs by women or black artists. Despite this story, 30 stations played “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in April before EMPIRE sent the track to country developers on May 3. “The streaming numbers were undeniable, but I wondered how long it would take to convince a terrestrial country radio program director” to play the track, he says Johnny Chiang, lead programmer for country music on SiriusXM and Pandora. “I'm pleasantly surprised that they picked it up so quickly.”
EMPIRE brought in Magnolia Music, an indie promotion company that has partnered with singer Randy Houser, to handle its country radio campaign. “Country radio, respectfully, always wants loyalty from artists,” Vassar says. “There was curiosity – is this one and done? Will Shaboozey go elsewhere? [and stop paying attention to country radio] after this;”
Not everyone was worried, though. For Tim Roberts, Audacy's country VP, Shaboozey “had already been embraced by a lot of country artists, so it seemed natural” to portray him. He first learned about “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” from a DJ who told him he was filling the floor at Coyote Joes, a country nightclub outside Detroit where Roberts also serves as brand manager for WYCD . Two Audacy stations, KMLE and WPAW, were among the early prominent supporters of the song.
To ease other programmers' anxiety, EMPIRE played them the rest of Shaboozey's album, which has plenty of country influences, from pedal steel guitars to a neighing horse sample. What's more, Vassar says, the label introduced the singer to developers when they could, “so they could understand the world he's building.” Roberts caught up with Shaboozey the week of the Academy of Country Music Awards. singer Jelly Roll took him out during a performance at Billy Bob's.
After EMPIRE officially began pushing “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” to country radio in May, 43 more stations immediately dropped it on their playlists, including 38 owned by iHeartMedia. The format accounts for more than 20% of the single's airplay so far, second only to the top 40.
Shaboozey's efforts to conquer pop and adult pop have been aided by the fact that those formats have been more receptive to country songs recently — last year, Luke Combs' “Fast Car” and Morgan Wallen's “Last Night” and the two bridged the gap. That sound “worked in top 40 form,” he says Matt Johnson, program director for WPLW. “And when you combine that with a feel-good song as the weather drops, that's a recipe for a summer hit.”
iHeartMedia felt similarly. “We went very pop aggressive on this song because we saw it take off,” says Poleman. Pop stations now account for more than 40% of Shaboozey's airplay.
Although there has recently been common ground between country and neighboring pop genres, it is still rare for country and rhythm stations to share tracks. “Sometimes programmers follow the rulebook too much where they say, 'This song doesn't fit the normal criteria of what a rhythm record should sound like,'” he acknowledges. Jonathan Steele, brand manager for KKFR in Phoenix. “I listen to everything and ask, is this going to alienate our audience? With Shaboozey, I knew my audience was going to stick that hook in their head.”
The rhythmic format was slower to welcome “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” than country and pop. But the track kept popping up on the Shazam charts in places like Columbus, Ohio Chris Harris oversees WCKX, another rhythmic outlet. He started playing Shaboozey's single in May and now has his sights set on another alcohol-fueled country-rap fusion, Moneybagg Yo's “Whiskey Whiskey,” a collaboration with Wallen.
Harris took a gamble on mainstream R&B/hip-hop station WIZF and recently added “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” “We've had a great response,” he says. But that's the one format EMPIRE targeted where “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has faltered, failing to reach the upper reaches of the chart.
However, “next week, we should be in the top five in four formats,” says Ghazi. “I'll take a stab at No. 1 and all four. Why not?”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/shaboozey-a-bar-song-tipsy-multi-format-radio-success/
