Heatseeker: Magic! – Rude

Magic! are a fun, up-beat, reggae-tinged band based in California; their debut single Rude is out through SME on our fair shores and was serviced to Australian radio this week.

The video is on YouTube and has attracted a little over 100, 000 views in a month, which isn’t particularly exciting compared to the millions of views racked up by most commercial hits within a week these days – and doesn’t go a long way in explaining why Sony has decided to pick them up and service this track to radio here.

Where this one does get exciting, however, is when you add the fact that Nasri Atweh fronts the band. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Canadian-born Nasri is a songwriter and producer, and quite an accomplished one at that. Over his career he’s won The John Lennon Songwriting Contest, helped the reunion of New Kids On The Block along and produced hits for the likes of Justin Bieber, Christina Aguilera,  Pitbull, Chris Brown, Iggy Azalea, Big Time Rush, Adam Lewis, Boyzone, Michael Bolton and many, many more – and has won a Grammy as half of writing and production duo, The Messengers.

Atweh’s involvement aside, this song seems custom-made for commercial radio: it’s is infectious, easy to digest, and feels immediately familiar. The island vibes couldn’t be more suited to the summer we are about to swing into, which may be the reason this isn’t already a smash in the US – Rude’s jaunty feel may be at odds with an American winter. We’re predicting staggered additions and a slow rise through the charts here, but we’re definitely set to hear a lot from these guys as summer swings into full force. Although commercial radio will claim this track soon enough, in an alternative universe, Triple J could very well pick up on this addictive outlier.