September 27th, 2007Feist: Breakthrough Pop Artist of Fall 2007?
This past spring Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist (who records under simply her last name) released her third solo album The Reminder. In line with her status as one of the top alt-pop singer-songwriters and a frequent performer with music festival favorites Broken Social Scene, the album debuted at #16 on the Billboard album chart. It was enough to cause many music journalists to take note of the new album, and, in particular, the charming video created for the single “1,2,3,4.”
Soon, however, The Reminder faded from collective memory. Its status began to rise again when the album was selected on the shortlist for Canada’s distinguished Polaris Prize. The announcement on July 10, 2007 linked the album with fellow high profile nominees Arcade Fire and their album The Neon Bible.
Then “1,2,3,4″ began showing up again. Feist performed it on the Late Show with David Letterman in August with an all-star indie pop choir. The song was also used for summer promos from cable network HBO. Then came Apple and a new round of iPod ads premiering on September 5, 2007. It now appears the dam has broken. “1,2,3,4″ debuted at #44 on the Billboard pop singles chart last week and #17 on the download chart. The song has also made an appearance in the UK pop top 40. The Reminder surged back into the top 50 of the album chart as well. At mid-afternoon on the opening day of Amazon’s online music store, “1,2,3,4″ sat at #1.
It’s been a long road in the music industry for Feist. She began over 15 years ago as a teenager in a punk band. However, with the right pieces slowly falling into place, a star is emerging. Enjoy “1,2,3,4,” a brisk breath of fresh air in the pop music world.
Watch “1,2,3,4.”
