Talk about sneaking up from behind! I seriously had never heard of this guy, “Who is Fancy”, until he kissed Meghan Trainor at the American Music Awards and everyone was talking about him.
That incident wasn’t actually enough for me to start wondering who he was. I mean, who cares who Meghan is kissing, but then I noticed that he managed to get Meghan Trainor AND Ariana Grande to sing on his SECOND single. And the song is very catchy, that I was still singing it the next day. So, THAT did it.
I too started wondering, who is this guy named Fancy? Where did he come from? Did I miss a YouTube sensation of some sort? Nope, to my surprise, his story is actually much better.
It’s only partially been about major YouTube views, because he’s not been uploading his own music. You know, videos of him singing in his bedroom, building up a following and then getting discovered there or rather, snatched up by a record company who sees an easy money making opportunity. Nah-ah, he did it the old fashioned way. The other way around.
His musical talent got him connected to the right people, namely the Big Machine Label Group and Dr. Luke, as well as a great management team with equal marketing insights.
They went on to create a hyped up viral campaign around his first single “Goodbye” that got him the YouTube views, without ever revealing his identity. Ooooh, how we love a good mystery. Well, until he had to go on tour ‘cos you kind of have to become visible then.
That’s when word got out that Fancy is Jake Hagood. He looks like uhm, well, Adam Lambert with a beard and slightly lighter hair, which seems to always fall perfectly; clothes, trendy, might regret some of it later, and his eyes, usually darkened by some black make up.
He went on tour with Meghan and Ariana, so that’s how they got connected, and then convinced them to sing with him on this catchy, but oh so predictable, “Boys Like You”.
The song sounds like it actually could’ve been a Meghan Trainor song. She’s so good at making something retro sound so current, but as she refers to the 50s, Fancy refers more to the 80s in this song, which is also the cool thing to do right now.
It's a nice, very commercial, very safe pop song. Good enough for a crush, but I wonder how long it’ll last. I do kind of miss, a thing of his own in what I’ve heard and seen so far. But sometimes, all you have to be is the man of the moment, to have everyone fancy you.
