Myspace captured a whole era in music history in mid-00s. That was the time when anything was possible. A pink-haired androgynous model could become a viral sensation (we’re looking at you, Jeffree Star); a DIY dream-pop singer could climb to No. 1 on the Billboard chart (hello, Owl City), all thanks to the support of an online community, long before the words selfie, emoji and snapchat were invented. Today we’re taking a look back at some of Myspace’s breakthrough music stars and seeing what they’re up to these days.
Owl City
A bedroom dream-pop producer-turned-global-phenomenon. That’s what every aspiring musician’s Myspace dreams were made of when they were uploading their DIY tracks onto their pages. Adam Young aka Owl City got to experience this dream coming true when he got noticed by the music big shots for his charming tunes and approachable personality. “Fireflies” was everyone’s profile song back in 2008, and then in 2012 Owl City had a wholesome party anthem with Carly Rae Jepsen called “Good Time,” but that was also his last proper hit. These days he’s blond, releases music under his real name and hosts various music competitions on his socials for like-minded aspiring musicians.
Lily Allen
Long before she released the sweetest FU-themed tune called, well, “Fuck You,” Lily Allen was already a hero for the outspoken youth thanks to her clever rhymes, LDN girl swag and overall bad-girl-next-door-appeal. All of that, topped with an aggressive Myspace strategy, gained her fame back in 2006, and in a blink of an eye she was topping UK charts, traveling the world and even hosting her own TV talk show.
Allen’s career has been a true roller coaster for the last decade — she tried quitting music, changing her stage name (and, naturally, her sonic palette has been all over the place), but never lost one thing that made her an original Myspace celebrity: she always stayed interesting. Since her last album came out in 2014, we think the new one is long overdue.
Sean Kingston
It’s easy to understand what the producers saw in Jamaica-based musician when they discovered him on Myspace. The guy could write, sing, rap and had an overall nice attitude. That resulted in the Motown-inspired banger “Beautiful Girls” that was inescapable in the summer of 2007 and several other hits.
Kingston is still active in music industry, whether he’s recording his own material or working with the likes of Zendaya, but it’s been four years since he released a proper album.
Hollywood Undead
As all the original Myspacers will tell you, the Californian rap rock band’s original name was The Kids and their initial claim to fame was a tune called “Hollywood”. The song got good response on Myspace and prompted the guys to properly launch a band in 2005.
It took them three more years to record their debut LP and so far they have four records under their belt that they toured around the globe. And yes, they’re still doing “the masks thing.”
Arctic Monkeys
English rockers like to point out that they didn’t even know what Myspace was even though their page was pretty much the reason people started paying attention to their music back in 2004/2005. The band claims that it was a fan account that started all this social media craze, but regardless of whose idea it was to share Arctic Monkeys’ music on Myspace, it’s still a fact.
Social media fame eventually caught the attention of BBC Radio and music press, and soon the band was hailed as the next best thing on the British indie scene. Ten years and several solo projects later, Monkeys still enjoy world-wide success and just confirmed that they’re working on a new record.
Calvin Harris
Long before he had abs to die for and A-list girlfriends, Scottish DJ Calvin Harris was just one of many producers who took their music to Myspace to share their bedroom-produced bangers with the cyber world. His music did stand out from the rest and Harris quickly nabbed himself a record deal and released debut record “I Created Disco” in 2007.
Keeping his hand firmly on the social media’s pulse, Harris also hosted a hilarious talk show of sorts on his YouTube channel, where he would ask various fellow musicians (including Katy Perry) to open a pot of jam (not an easy task at all). Fast forward to 2011, when Harris teamed up with Rihanna for that little known song called “We Found Love.” We’re sure that these days Harris still has an army of people willing to open a jam pot for him.
Kate Nash
We’ll be forever grateful for this British singer-songwriter coming up with the line “You said I must eat so many lemons, ‘cause I am so bitter” from her breakthrough hit “Foundation.” And Nash herself will be grateful for Myspace providing her an opportunity to find her first manager and producers.
These days she still tours and releases music, but on her own terms, since she has launched her own music label. She’s also an actress and an cactivist who uses social media to raise awareness on various issues.
Metro Station
While Miley Cyrus’ Hannah Montana was a made-up rock star, Cyrus’ brother Trace Cyrus got to be the lead guitarist in a very real pop rock band Metro Station. While Mason Musso is a brother of another Hannah Montana star, Mitchel Musso. The band was joined by Anthony Improgo and started uploading music onto Myspace, where its fanbase started growing, thanks to the catchy tunes and emo-chic looks of the band members, which appealed to the mid-00s teens.
Climbing the Myspace Music Unsigned Band’s chart led to a promising record deal and a proper hit “Shake It.” But no amount of success could prevent the in-band clashing and Metro Station went on a lengthy hiatus. Seems like these days all the drama is past them and the band finally released a follow-up album in 2015 and recently announced a new tour.
Cobra Starship
While mapping out the direction for his future band, Gabe Saporta posted his response to Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” (it was called “Hollaback Boy”) on Myspace. The synth-driven tongue-in-cheek approach of Cobra Starship was met with much enthusiasm, and soon the band was providing the main theme for the notorious Snakes on a Plane horror comedy.
The band released four studio albums, some more “sequel tunes” (including “I Kissed a Boy” as an ode to Katy Perry’s banger) and split in late 2015. Saporta announced that he would work solely behind the scenes from now on, which is a shame — there’s always a need for some sassy synth-heavy pop number.
Tila Tequila
The model from Vietnam basically created the whole idea of internet personality and is heavily responsible for the reality TV craze that followed. Her raunchy Myspace posts turned her into a #celebrity (long before hashtags were a thing), and eventually landed her TV gigs such as a dating show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, where both girls and guys were competing for the sweet spot in the former Playboy Cyber Girl Of the Week’s heart.
Time magazine called Tequila the “queen of Myspace,” but social media fame was not enough for the scantily clad superstar. She released music (“Stripper Friends” and “I Fucked the DJ” to name a few), self-help book and several style and dating websites, but from 2013 dedicated her time to promoting anti-Semitism and sharing her fascination with Hitler. That pretty much ended her social media “reign,” since Twitter suspended her account (Facebook did too for a while).
Want to see more lists? Check out our Everybody Loves a List! page.
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