By Jon Muñoz
The Virginian-based artist Tommy Richman has released his highly anticipated debut, COYOTE, which delves deep into the compelling emotional maturity, relationships, and introspective themes, showcasing the artist’s personality that transcends mere formulaic hooks.
Tommy Richman is the latest phenomenon to surprise the music scene. On April 26, he released the highly praised hit “MILLION DOLLAR BABY,” which took the industry by storm.
“It’s rare to see a new song from a rising artist blow up this quickly, but Richman’s success arrives amidst a perfect storm of social media hype, impeccable timing, and some of the most intoxicating melodies we’ve heard all year,” said Eric Skelton, the head of music at Complex.
The high-pitched dynamic vocals, short run time of just over two minutes, and engaging yet simplistic retro funk sound helped this track stand out. The interesting thing was how much hype this song built around before its release. Richman previewed parts of the song on TikTok, which was already seeing immediate virality. Later, he released the song and dominated the billboard charts for weeks.
“All but one week of the 11-week history of “Million Dollar Baby” on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 have been spent at No. 1; the song debuted at No. 2 on the May 11 survey and has led since its coronation the following week,” Billboard said.
To celebrate this achievement, Richman followed up the hit with another song, “DEVIL IS A LIE,” in June. The song garnered over 167 million streams on Spotify and was another certified hit for Richman.
Richman released his studio debut album, COYOTE, to continue the hype and feed his fans. Surprisingly, Richman decided not to use his chart-dominating songs as singles for the album. However, he had an exciting and realistic excuse for not including the songs.
“TikTok, it’s a great platform — my life’s changed off of it,” Richman said. “But when songs blow up on TikTok, there’s a stigma that comes with it, like your song is a ringtone. That’s not who I am. I’m trying to make living, breathing albums — works of art, man,” said Richman to the Los Angeles Times.
With this semi-controversial decision, Richman has taken an entire risk as an artist and seeks to expand his artistic boundaries. COYOTE does precisely what he wanted. While still incorporating the signature style from the hits, he diversifies and implements genres such as smooth R&B and occasionally hip-hop. With just 11 songs, the artist accomplishes a concise, catchy, and funky debut. Tracks like ‘WHITNEY,” “THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ONE,” and “TEMPTATIONS” are already shaping up to be Richman’s newer dynamic hits.
Richman also provides some more complex tracks in the album. “VANITY” takes the listener on a multifaceted six-minute journey that continuously evolves with each passing minute. The outro “seems like time moves forever.” sees Richman and mynameisntjmack exploring the concept of time and the wish to change past regrets in a smooth yet psychedelic track. This album was also elevated thanks to collaborators such as Trevor Spitta, Zachary Moon, Paco, and longtime previously mentioned collaborator mynameisntjmack.
COYOTE is now available on all streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.