You love to see it.
According to Billboard, Koe Wetzel debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (which encompasses all musical genres) for the first time with his most recent release “Sweet Dreams” charting at #47, which was released about a week and a half ago now.
The song is featured on Koe’s forthcoming album 9 Lives, and finds Koe lamenting a former flame and taking responsibility for the fact that he can’t seem to keep a good thing for too long, and the memory of this girl seems to haunt him even in his sleep making hard to have “sweet dreams” anymore.
It’s a pretty open, honest look at Koe and how he views himself in relationships, where he blames himself more than the girl he left brokenhearted which is a pretty mature take and definitely some sort of evolution (no matter how small it may be):
“A man like me would keep it to himself
A bigger man would say it to your face
Yeah I ain’t doing good and you can tell
Was I the only one you couldn’t save?
I hate to be the reason that you’re crying
The way you always knew when I was lying
And breaking your heart was getting tiring
I knew I had to let you go”
The production also has a little bit of R&B flair to it, and is much softer than what we heard on albums like Hell Paso and Harold Saul High, for example, and Koe says he was actually inspired a little bit by the R&B stylings of something like Usher’s iconic Confessions album (still one of my favorites, but I digress…):
“I had an R&B type song in mind, like something off Usher’s ‘Confessions’ album, with a badass drumbeat and a really cool melody.
I had written in my notes a few weeks earlier: ‘Sweet Dreams.’ When we got to the Sonic Ranch in El Paso, we tried it. We stepped back to look at the song and got really excited about the way it came out.”
Also according to Billboard, “Sweet Dreams” gained 10.9 million official streams and 3,000 downloads in its first week, starting May 17th and ending on May 23rd (using Luminate data).
In addition, the song debuted pretty high on the Hot Country Songs chart at #11, becoming Koe’s seventh entry and first top 20 hit. “Wasted,” “Creeps,” “Damn Near Normal,” “Cabo,” “April Showers” and “Money Spent” all also charted on the Hot Country Songs chart.
With country continuing to have a huge moment in the mainstream, it’s really cool to see guys like Koe, who have a lot of crossover appeal with the Texas country/rock sound, really starting to gain traction.
Of course, Koe has been at it for years now so it’s certainly no overnight success, but with him charting on the Hot 100 chart, and especially the Hot Country Songs chart, this new album is poised to take him to an audience far beyond the Texas scene or even the country genre in general.
9 Lives is due out everywhere on on July 19th.
“Sweet Dreams”
9 Lives tracklist:
“Continued” Skit
“9 Lives (Black Cat)” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon)
“Casamigos” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Sam Harris, Ben Burgess, Gabe Simon)
“Damn Near Normal” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon, Carrie Karpinen, Sam Harris)
“Leigh” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon)
“Twister” (Ropyr Wetzel, Steve Rusch, Ben Burgess, Josh Serrato)
“High Road” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon, Carrie Karpinen)
“Reconsider” (Charles John Brocco, Keith Quenton Gattis)
“Hatchet” (Gabe Simon, Mike Coogan)
“Sweet Dreams” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Josh Serrato, Gabe Simon, Sam Harris)
“Runnin’ Low” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Sam Harris, Gabe Simon, Ben Burgess)
“Bar Song” (Blake “Shy” Carter, Breyan Isaac, Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Dave Gibson)
“Last Outlaw Alive” (Josh Serrato, Ben Burgess, Sam Harris)
