Artist:New Politics
Song:Harlem
Album:A Bad Girl in Harlem
The Danish band New Politics moved to Brooklyn, NY when they signed with RCA Records in 2009. They had success in the Alternative Rock market but they tried to crossover to pop and were unsuccessful. David Boyd is lead singer. Soren Hansen plays keyboards. Poul Amaliel plays drums. They are from Copenhagen, Denmark. Boyd and Hansen were writing songs together for possible solo albums. When they weren't getting anywhere, Boyd convinced Hansen to enter a couple of songs in Danish National Radio P3's Karriere Kanonen (Career Cannon) competition. When they were chosen to perform, there was no band. They brought in a drummer, were one of the four winners of the contest and performed at a music festival. They quickly called themselves New Politics. When RCA heard about them, New Politics signed and they moved to Brooklyn. After recording the 2010 album New Politics, they played the South by Southwest festival in Mar. 2010. The album was released in July and the single Yeah Yeah Yeah reached #16 on the Alternative Rock chart. The album was criticized for sounding too much other similar pop punk bands. Of course the band toured. After the tour, Amaliel returned to Denmark and was replaced by Louis Vecchio. For the 2013 album A Bad Girl in Harlem, New Politics decided they needed to be more commercial so they could have a hit single. The single Harlem reached #4 on the Alternative Rock chart and #10 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart. These are for songs that are getting radio play and might jump to the Billboard Hot 100. But Harlem never made the Billboard Hot 100. This was despite the fact that the song appeared in several TV commercials, the trailer for the film Frozen and video games like NHL 14. The record was produced by Jake Sinclair who produced other similar bands. This album is available on CD. There were industry complaints about Harlem being too slick. And that was the problem with New Politics. They weren't distinctive enough and were too similar to other more successful bands. New Politics toured with Fall Out Boy and became friends with that band's leader Pete Wentz. Wentz signed New Politics to his label DCD2 Records with Warner Bros. distribution. After releasing two unsuccessful albums, New Politics went on what seems to be a permanent hiatus. A formal split was never announced. Hansen has released a couple of solo albums. Boyd has a family now so that keeps him busy. He's released a couple of singles and is working on an album. It looks like New Politics is on a permanent hiatus. Here's the video for Harlem by New Politics.
