Glass Animals, Sad Night Dynamite

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Meredith Truax

Glass Animals

$55 ($49.50 adv.).

media release: In October, Glass Animals were nominated for two 2021 American Music Awards—“Favorite Pop Duo or Group” and “Favorite Rock Artist.” The news arrives following the band’s biggest year of their career thus far, with their global and  Double Platinum smash hit “Heat Waves” becoming the UK’s biggest export from a British contemporary band and making Glass Animals the biggest band in the world right now.  

“I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)” has amassed nearly 20 million global streams to date and is currently sitting in the Top 15 on the U.S. Alternative Radio Chart. Meanwhile, “Heat Waves” shows no signs of stopping with nearly 1.5 billion global streams to date. The global smash hit recently peaked at #4 on Spotify’s Daily Top 200 Chart, #3 on Spotify’s Global Top 50 Chart, and #6 on Spotify’s US Top 50 Chart, as well as #1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart and #12 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart.  

As the band continues the biggest year of their career, they have recently topped several Grammy predictions lists for “Best New Artist” nomination predictions, including Variety, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Hits Daily Double, Gold Derby, and more, with Gold Derby proclaiming, “My best bets are Glass Animals, whose hit ‘Heat Waves’ has become a massive success and keeps rising on the charts.”

  Last summer, Glass Animals released “Heat Waves” with a video that was a “love letter to live music and the culture and togetherness surrounding it,” with Dave Bayley asking his East London neighbors to help film a video from their windows during lockdown. Fast forward over a year later, “Heat Waves” has captured the hearts and minds of millions across the world, become a 1 billion-plus streaming global smash hit, and is officially the UK’s biggest global song of the year from a contemporary band, recently re-entering the UK Top 5 and Top 5 on Spotify’s Global Chart. “Heat Waves” flew into Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and has achieved Double-Platinum status in the US, Platinum in the UK, and was crowned #1 on Triple J’s Hot 100 – an accolade not given to a UK band since 2009, with previous winners including Billie Eilish – and was performed at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, and more. Not to mention, “Heat Waves” peaked at #1 on the Alternative Radio Chart for three consecutive weeks and in the Top 15 on the Top 40 Radio Chart, a first for Glass Animals in their career.    

The past year has also been a huge time of collaboration for Glass Animals, with Dave Bayley constantly challenging himself and finding new inspiration as a producer and songwriter. Having worked with the likes of 6lack, Flume, FJ Dahi, Joey Bada$$, Khalid, and Daytrip, the band has released “Space Ghost Coast To Coast” featuring Bree Runway, performed an immaculate “Heat Waves” session for La Blogotheque with breakout star of 2021 Holly Humberstone, as well as released a new version of “Tangerine” with BRIT Award winning Arlo Parks. Dave also started the series “Cereal Bars” for his love of finding new talent, and created beats and lyrics inspired by sugary snacks with up-and-coming artists, including Oliver Malcolm, BENEE, and Easy Life. The four-piece has also worked with cult Peanut Butter brand Jackpot to raise money for Music Venues Trust, created a Simlish version of “Heat Waves”, and built a Glass Animals fan base inside Minecraft, surprising a fan with a virtual meet and greet.  

Connecting with fans during such a difficult year has been of paramount importance, and Glass Animals have maintained their unique connection by building their own website, named OpenSource, where fans can design artwork and create music based on the world of Dreamland, with Dave Bayley sharing the stems and raw files and giving fans the tools to work together on creative pursuits. The band also put on a “Live In The Internet” concert that sold 25,000 tickets worldwide, and made unique music videos by DIY-shooting solo in Dave’s apartment directed solely over Zoom (“Dreamland”) and inviting fans to take 3-D scans of their heads (“Tangerine”).   

Glass Animals recently hit a new Spotify monthly listener peak of 34 million, surpassing the likes of Lorde, Tyler, the Creator, Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, 6Black, Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino, and Tame Impala. “Heat Waves”’ global success means that Glass Animals have produced the biggest new single export of the year. The British group is only behind heritage acts Fleetwood Mac with “Dreams” and Queen with “Bohemian Rhapsody” for biggest song of the year from a group. During the year where everything changed, Glass Animals have been able to create their own little world in Dreamland, which has been translated globally.