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“I Almost Got Jealous, Like, ‘I Wish I Wrote This Song’ ”Ĭharlie Puth: I’m the pickiest person ever. Then when it comes into play, it’s hard to let it soak in. I started touring when I was 11, so for nine years I’ve been in the mindset of working hard to get to No. 1.
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Gabby Barrett's 'I Hope' Breaks Record With 20th Week Atop Hot Country Songsīarrett: Once it hit No. 1 on Country Airplay, I felt like I was dreaming with my eyes open. Now, of course, everybody says, “We loved it all along!” We had some radio people tell us a country radio listener is not a streaming listener, so we did research to show how much overlap there was.
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We’re sharing with radio people that we were streaming like a top 10 single. We went to radio in late July, and the song was struggling. “Dreaming With My Eyes Open”Įsposito: By the time we signed her in June, she was doing 2 million streams a week. Nothing was going to get in the way of signing Gabby. And Espo being from Pittsburgh - that was the cherry on top.Įsposito: When it got really competitive, we thought, “What could be the difference-maker?” Gabby’s father is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, so my dear friend Bill Cowher called her and had an amazing conversation with her dad. We felt that voice and style of songwriting was the first since Shania Twain that could cross internationally, not just to the pop side of the charts here in America.īarrett: Warner Music Nashville had an insane sense of belief in me. I’ve had plenty of auditions in the office where they had chops, but you didn’t see that fire in their eyes that we could with Gabby. Kelly Rich (country music lead, label relations, Amazon Music): In May 2019, we were excited to see she was trending so heavily with us, so it was an easy decision to increase our support of Gabby through playlist covers, additional programming, placement opportunities and on our homepage.Įsposito: My A&R team sent me “I Hope,” and her powerhouse vocal jumped out. The numbers started to go crazy on all of the streaming platforms, and then label people started to pay attention. Coming off Idol that previous summer, I was thankful that that audience stayed with me. She brings you in with this sweet vocal, and then when the teeth come out, it’s something that really grabs people.īarrett: It was January 2019 when we released it. Mike Chester (executive vp promotion, Warner Records): You want attitude in pop records. John “Espo” Esposito: When I heard the bombshell in the first chorus, I was dying to meet an 18-year-old who could summon that up. Jon and I were going back-and-forth on ideas for the chorus, and he, “What if we said, ‘And then I hope she cheats?’ ” I said, “We should go with that because that’s really how people end up feeling.” You can’t go wrong with another good cheating song in country music. It has happened to me and people close to me. Gabby Barrett: I had a terrible relationship in high school that just went south, and I ended up getting my heart broken. “When The Teeth Come Out, It’s Something That Really Grabs People” “It’s crazy.” Here’s how one of 2020’s defining crossover hits came to be. “Who could have planned for an artist we signed to have her first record go four-times platinum and it’s still rocking like mad?” asks Warner Music Nashville chairman/CEO John “Espo” Esposito. 1 for a solo female artist (and no other billed acts) - and reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in November. The track has also topped Hot Country Songs for 20 weeks - the most time at No. “I Hope” is only the fourth song to hit No. 1 on Country Airplay and Radio Songs, and Barrett is the first artist to do so with her debut single. After a bidding war last year, she signed with Warner Music Nashville, which this year helped Barrett top Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, then summit both the Adult Pop Songs and the all-format Radio Songs charts with the aid of a Charlie Puth remix. Though Barrett, 20, first released the song independently in early 2019, the track’s plot twist - in which well-wishes for an ex-flame curdle at the end of the chorus - was irresistible to listeners.