The song may be called “Beautiful Tragedy” but for Josh Taerk it’s been a beautiful ride. “Beautiful Tragedy” is climbing the charts, the song is already #39 on the Mediabase Top 40 Pop Activator Chart and #41 on the BDS/Billboard Top 40 indicator chart. Taerk has “a really great feeling the song is going to keep climbing” and so do we! Variety Beat had the chance to catch up with him and see what he’s been up to since out last interview!
How has Taerk handled the new success?
“It’s been awesome and surreal at the same time…The fact that the song has connected with so many people, that it’s climbing up the Top 40 charts means the world to me!”
“Beautiful Tragedy” is all over YouTube in it’s clever music video that bring the words to life. A new video always brings along with it a new translation of a song, the lyric video for “Beautiful Tragedy” is a whole new “reality”. It’s a modern beautiful tragedy, one in which Taerk says;
“I came up with the idea while I was sitting at my computer thinking about my love/hate relationship with technology”.
Instead of traditional graphics, lyrics type across the screen on Facebook, Pop-up ads, Google and more! This was all brought to life with the help of Josh Lockhart. The two met through a friend in Nashville and immediately started brainstorming ways to put the lyrics on a computer screen with flawless transitions and a few hidden jokes for us to find.
“I loved Lockharts idea to write ‘I’m feeling tragic’ on our Google search engine…Putting all those little bits of my and Lockhart’s humor into this concept was hilarious. The other part I had a lot of fun doing was the Will Ferrell-esque cowbell and tambourine parts in the bridge. That was so much fun to record!!”
That last bit was filmed live in a park near Tarek’s parents’ house in Toronto and plays back in the video on a computer screen. You’re never taken out of the laptop experience and we have to hand it to Taerk and Lockhart for their ingenious platforms and seamless transitions. We hope to see more from these two soon and so does Taerk, who had a lot of fun working with him on it and could definitely see them working together again.
If you want to catch a stripped-down live version of the song, Josh Taerk posted his time at D’Angelico Sessions in Colorado. We asked how this beautiful rendition came about and he said,
“I’ve become pretty close with the team of people behind the brand. We’ve done a couple of impromptu jam nights/shows together, and they were very cool about us doing some acoustic videos in the store (hint, more to come)!”
We don’t know about the rest of you but the last part of that statement has us super excited!
What’s next for Josh Taerk?
“I love being on the road and sharing my songs live with my fans! I’m actually about to head out for some Canadian tour dates this month and then we’re heading back to Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana in April…I’m always writing new songs, and love throwing new ones into our live shows.”
Watch the video here:
Categories: Interviews, Pop