Pop-Culturalist.com

When we last spoke with Pop Culturalist fave Josh Taerk, he had just released Beautiful Tragedy. It was one of the best albums of the year, highlighting Josh’s growth as an artist and songwriter, and marked a new chapter in his career.

Since then, he’s taken the title track off Beautiful Tragedy on an impressive radio tour, finding himself sharing the charts with artists including Ariana Grande, Post Malone, and Dua Lipa. It’s everything that Josh has worked and hoped for.

Pop Culturalist caught up with Josh to discuss this incredible milestone.

PC: What have you been up to since we last spoke?
Josh: We went back to the U.K. in October and released Beautiful Tragedy over there. The title song instantly got put into 100+ radio stations’ playlists across the country, which was amazing. We played shows in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and a few shows in London as well to release the album. Those shows were incredible. I always love going back over to the U.K.; that’s where I got my start like nine years ago, so it’s always had a special place in my heart.

Then, we got back to the U.S. and I started touring around New York state at the end of October through the beginning of November. We did a bunch of university shows and club gigs and it was so much fun. We introduced the U.S. to the new album, Beautiful Tragedy, the new sound, and the response that we got for this record was phenomenal. People really seemed to like these songs live.

After that, we took it to the Midwest later in November: we toured through Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and ended in Ohio, which was an amazing experience—played a big show for Ohio State. Then, we started the Top 40 campaign in the beginning of January and played a whole bunch of tour dates in California to kick off the Top 40 release.

PC: You’re promoting “Beautiful Tragedy”, the single, right now. What was the inspiration behind that song?
Josh: It was actually really funny the way it came about. I had just gotten back from a gig in London and it was like two in the morning. I got back to my hotel room, and I was thinking to myself, “Okay, I’m really tired. I’m going to jump in the shower and go to bed. I’m done for the night.” Just as I’m about to do so, for some reason, the line comes into my head, “These days I leave the light on when I go to sleep, thinking maybe we’ll come back to what we could have been.” I stopped, and I went, “I need to write this down.” As I started writing, more lines started to come to me. The bulk of the song really took shape in that hotel room in London.

I brought the lyrics back to my two brothers, Ryan and Matt, in Toronto, and said, “Look, I’ve got this song. Let’s work on it. Let’s make this something.” The story came about thinking of love in a different way. You know there are a lot of songs out there about people that fall in love or people that are in love with each other. This one started to take shape around the idea of two people loving each other but realizing that they’re not meant to be together. It was a really cool song to write because it had a very different spin on it for me, as far as love songs go. I love the contrast of it: these heart-wrenching lyrics with this really upbeat, uptempo sound.

It was really cool: we got to record the bulk of the song in Nashville, TN at the Sound Emporium down there. Then, we brought the stuff back here so that we could record vocals and harmonies at the Orange Lounge in Toronto, which is an incredible studio in my hometown.

PC: You’ve also released a creative, out-of-the-box lyric video for the single. How did you come up with that concept?
Josh: I really wanted to do something different with this video. I knew I didn’t want to just make another conventional performance video, I wanted to do something really creative with this. I started to think about all the tech that I use, social media, and the love-hate relationship that I have with all of that stuff. When it’s working, it’s great, but when technology isn’t working, it’s not the most fun thing in the world.

I thought more about it and I started to laugh. I went, “This could be a really cool video”—taking that experience that everybody has on a daily basis, using all of the stuff that they use, and turning it into a music/lyric video. I brainstormed all these different things that we could do with all of the different apps and websites.

Afterwards, I got in touch with a director in Nashville named Josh Lockhart and the two of us clicked instantly on the idea. He had the same sense of humor and the same kind of approach to all of these things that I did. It was amazing working on this video because it turned out really funny and refreshing. He was a pleasure to work with. Josh is a phenomenal director and was able to take the ideas that I was presenting him and build on them to turn them into exactly what we had envisioned when we were talking about it.

PC: “Beautiful Tragedy” is making its way around the radio tour. It’s picking up momentum there and also on the charts. What has that been like for you and have you seen your fan base grow as a result?
Josh: It’s been amazing. My dream, first and foremost, is to reach as many people as I can with my stories and music, and the radio campaign has been a phenomenal way to do that. Ever since we actually started to appear in the Top 100, we found that there was a really great response on social media and Spotify; there were a lot more streams coming in, there were a lot more fans that were engaging with it.

Of course, the fans that have been with me forever were also a part of that, I love them dearly for it. They all were really excited. It was cool to see because they’ve been a part of this since the beginning. I say all the time that without fans coming to the shows, streaming the music, watching the videos online, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do what I love to do.

I can’t even describe the feeling as an artist to see my song and name among the likes of Ariana Grande, Post Malone, and Dua Lipa—they’re absolutely crushing the game right now. It’s been surreal, and the song’s still climbing! I’m really grateful that this passion that I have and the stories that I believe in are connecting with people in this incredible way.

PC: Like you just said, seeing your name on the charts and hearing your songs on the radio have been huge milestones. As you look ahead, what are some of the other career aspirations you have?
Josh: I’m always looking to reach more people with my music. As I said before, this campaign has been an incredible way to reach new audiences, to reach new states where my music hadn’t necessarily been played in the same way before. It’s provided amazing opportunities to reach out to different venues and create touring opportunities. It’s also been a phenomenal networking opportunity, just talking to different artists and people in the industry. I’m looking at this campaign as the next step. This is just one of those things that’s going to allow me to continue doing what I love to do and to continue doing it on a much bigger scale. I’m really excited for all the opportunities that are developing because of this campaign and I’m looking forward to taking them all as far as they’ll go.

PC: What does the year hold for you as we look ahead in 2019?
Josh: A lot of touring! I love being on the road. I’m constantly working on tour dates, playing shows, and there will definitely be new music at some point. I see living life and being on the road as the precursor to the songs and stories that I tell. The music that I write is very personal to me; it’s about experiences that I’ve gone through or that people very close to me have gone through. In my mind, you can’t write about experiences if you don’t live life. The road is an amazing opportunity for me to present stuff to my fans, see their reactions to the new songs, and try things in different ways. You inevitably collect stories and experiences when you’re on the road that make you see life differently. It gives you other perspectives on things that you never would have thought of before. Those are some of the greatest places that songs can come from.

Make sure to follow Josh on Twitter and Instagram, and pick up Beautiful Tragedy on iTunes, Amazon Music, or stream it on Spotify.