Up until they were announced as the musical guest for
Saturday Night Live‘s
February 11th episode, I had no clue who
Karmin was or where they had come from. Come to find out,
Karmin (AKA engaged couple
Amy Heidemann and
Nick Noonan) hail from Brookline, Massachusetts, just a hop, skip and jump away from where I live, outside of Boston. While the duo released EPs in both 2010 (
Inside Out) and 2011 (
The Winslow Sessions), it wasn’t really until their single “
Brokenhearted” in early February that the band started to take off.
“Brokenhearted” is the second official single taken off the band’s forthcoming debut studio album, Hello, due out May 8th on Epic Records. The song was produced by Cirkut (Jessie J, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Marina & The Diamonds) and co-written by Heidemann & Noonan, alongside Claude Kelly, Emily Wright, Henry Walter, John Hill and Richard Head.
Before hitting it big with “Brokenhearted,” the couple started making waves on YouTube, where they posted covers of popular songs like “Look At Me Now” by Chris Brown and “Super Bass” by Nicki Minaj. Thanks to shout outs from Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Seacrest, Beyoncé, Ashton Kutcher and other celebrities, the duo became the object of a bit of a bidding war from major labels scrambling to sign the band. Another validation for YouTube and the social media craze that started with MySpace. Ultimately signing with with L.A. Reid‘s Epic Records, Karmin hit the studio with everyone from The Runners and Tricky Stewart to J.R. Rotem, Stargate and Benny Blanco, working with top notch songwriters such as Diane Warren, Claude Kelly, Bonnie McKee and others.
It’s amazing to me that a song this catchy didn’t snag my attention before recently. Heidemann’s vocals really shine through on the up-tempo, club-friendly track about a “brokenhearted” girl chasing after a man who’s about to leave her. While there is plenty of Heidemann singing in the song’s zippy chorus, “Brokenhearted” also features a healthy amount of Ke$ha-style speak-singing, which makes for an interesting and altogether catchier song. Epic really saved $$ on having to hire one of those “rent-a-rappers” by just letting Heidemann spit her own verses. Smart move!
“
Brokenhearted” peaked on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart at a respectable #33 and #19 on the
Pop Songs chart, but really made waves on the
Hot Dance Club Songs Chart, where the song sashayed it’s way to the #14 spot, backed by a set of bumpin’ remixes from
R3hab,
Razor & Guido, and
Mixin’ Marc & Tony Svejda.
Check out the super-fun
Marc Klasfeld-directed video for “
Brokenhearted” below, which had it’s
VEVO premiere on
March 22nd. Download the song on U.S.
iTunes HERE.
