StʌrunneR

Living Room 2015

GENRE: POP

The Click 2017

GENRE: ALTERNATIVE

Neotheater 2019

GENRE: ALTERNATIVE

Ok Orchestra 2021

GENRE: ALTERNATIVE

The Maybe Man 2023

GENRE: ALTERNATIVE

Baidu

AJR是来自美国纽约的一支独立流行电子乐队，由Met家三兄弟Adam Brett、Jack Evan和Ryan Joshua组成。AJR是一个DIY流行乐团，他们在切尔西公寓的客厅里进行写作，制作和混合自己的素材。乐队名称AJR便是来自于Adam。Jack和Ryan的首字母缩写。代表专辑有《Record Player》。

成员介绍

Adam Met - 声乐，低音吉他，节目，样品，打击乐（2005-）
Jack Met - 主唱，吉他，旋律，四弦琴，鼓，打击乐，键盘，合成器，样品，编程（2005-）
Ryan Met - 声乐，四弦琴，键盘，合成器，小号，鼓，打击乐，样品，编程（2005-）

Wiki (en)

AJR is an American indie pop band founded by brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met (formerly Metzger), collectively a trio of vocalists, multi-instrumentalists, and songwriters. The brothers grew up in New York City, primarily focused on busking and singing covers until releasing their first album, Living Room, on 3 March 2015. As of 2024, they have produced and released five studio albums under the independent label AJR Productions to various record labels.[a]

The trio broke out with their song “I’m Ready”. The song yielded their first Platinum in Australia and also served as a lead single to their debut album, Living Room (2015). Their second album, The Click (2017), achieved one million album sales in America, making it AJR’s first and only Platinum album; its singles “Weak” and “Burn the House Down” received triple and double Platinum (RIAA), respectively. Their co-written single on the album, “Sober Up” (featuring Rivers Cuomo), was certified single Platinum and reached number one on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. AJR continued to build audience with a world tour, supported by their first Billboard 200 top-ten and third studio album, Neotheater (2019). Two years later, a Billboard Music Award was granted to AJR’s first and only Hot 100 top-ten single “Bang!”, which was a double Platinum single from their second Billboard 200 top-ten and fourth studio album, OK Orchestra (2021). Prior to their fifth album, The Maybe Man (2023), AJR had over eleven million US digital single sales, which accounted for the five aforementioned songs, “100 Bad Days”, and “Way Less Sad”. The Maybe Man spawned the song “Yes I’m a Mess”; it is the album’s most successful single, which charted at number sixteen on NZ Hot Singles but not in the United States.

Career

2005–2013: Street performing and breakthrough with “I’m Ready”

Your early covers on YouTube were kind of what inspired me to get into making covers on my own … your “Ho Hey” cover … that was like one of the first covers that I saw that made me want to put out covers.
—Mendes

AJR, originally known as TB³, began street performing in the parks of New York City on July 9, 2005. Prior to releasing original music, they posted covers of popular songs onto YouTube, under the username of AJRbrothers. Jack revealed in 2017 that their cover of “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers later inspired pop singer Shawn Mendes to perform his own covers. In 2012, AJR self-released a limited edition eponymous EP in CD format.

In November 2012, Ryan tweeted a link to a video of their debut single, “I’m Ready”, to about 80 celebrities, including Australian singer Sia. Sia told her manager about the song, and he contacted Steve Greenberg, former president of Columbia Records and current CEO and founder of S-Curve Records, who now acts as their manager. “I’m Ready”, which features a sample of SpongeBob SquarePants repeatedly singing his catchphrase “I’m ready” from the eponymous animated series’ premiere episode, was commercially released on August 22, 2013. The song was placed in regular rotation on Sirius XM Radio’s Top 20 on 20 and Hits 1 stations, and they performed it on Good Day New York and VH1’s Big Morning Buzz. The official music video for “I’m Ready” premiered on VEVO on October 15, 2013. It was certified Platinum in America and three times Platinum in Australia.

2013–2016: Living Room and EPs

Duration: 29 minutes and 35 seconds.29:35

AJR released their EP, 6foot1, on December 20, 2013, later being re-released as I’m Ready - EP via Warner Music Group on March 25, 2014. They were named Clear Channel’s “Artist on the Rise” for the month of October 2013. By 2014, the band was named iHeartRadio’s Artist of the Month for Top 40 in January.

The band’s EP, Infinity, was released on September 23, 2014. It contains 5 tracks, including the lead single “Infinity”. A lyric video directed and produced primarily by AJR was released for the single. The EP was released instead of their debut album, Living Room, which was pushed back to a release date of March 3, 2015. The band expressed the delay in their debut album was because they wanted to add some of their newer music to the project. On October 23, 2015, they released the bonus track “Let the Games Begin”.

The brothers released their EP, titled What Everyone’s Thinking, on September 16, 2016, which features the singles “I’m Not Famous” and “Weak”. “Weak” has been certified Platinum in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US, generating over 250 million streams on Spotify in one year.

2017–2018: The Click

Their second studio album, The Click, was released on June 9, 2017, including the singles “Weak”, “Drama”, and “Sober Up” (featuring Rivers Cuomo). The featured single was both AJR and his first chart-topping song co-written by them; atop Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart for two weeks in 2018, apart from his band Weezer. The album, on the AJR Productions label, was released by BMG in the US, Ultra Records in Canada, Liberator Records in Australia/New Zealand, and Black Butter Records in the rest of the world, as were AJR’s next two albums. The band’s 2018 tour in support of the album, The Click Tour, featured Hundred Handed, Grizfolk, Ocean Park Standoff, and MAX as openers.

An extended version of The Click was released on September 21, 2018. The Click (Deluxe Edition) included new tracks such as “Role Models”, “Normal” and “Burn the House Down”, the latter which the band released in March 2018 as a single and reached number two on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. Also included was “Pretender – Acoustic”, an acoustic version of “Pretender”, which was a collaboration between AJR, EDM artist Steve Aoki and American rapper Lil Yachty.

Due to a resurgence in popularity after four years, AJR released a music video for the album’s second track, “The Good Part”.

2019: Neotheater

On January 30, 2019, AJR released the song “100 Bad Days”, which would later become the lead single for Neotheater. A music video for the single was released on March 7. The song was additionally included on Taylor Swift’s Apple Music playlist, “Playlist by ME!”, in May 2019, with the pre-chorus’ lyrics being used for Taylor’s description of the playlist of songs she loves and appreciates.

On March 10, the band announced their third studio album, Neotheater, which was to be released on April 26. On March 12, the promotional single “Birthday Party” was released and “100 Bad Days” was performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The second single, “Dear Winter”, was released on April 5 alongside a music video. After releasing on April 26, 2019, Neotheater debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 and hit number one on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. A show for the Neotheater World Tour was later sold out at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on October 5, 2019.

On October 25, 2019, the group released “Dear Winter 2.0”, re-imagining the song by “changing the production and upping the emotion”.

2020–2021: OK Orchestra

“Bang!” was released as the lead single for the band’s fourth studio album on February 12, 2020. The song charted in the Billboard Hot 100 at number eight, making it AJR’s first and only Hot 100 top-ten single. The album’s second single, “Bummerland”, released on August 31, 2020, later being performed by the band at the virtual concert “We the People” on January 17, 2021 for the inauguration of the 46th United States president Joe Biden.

On December 22, 2020, AJR released “My Play” as the third single, followed by “Way Less Sad” as the fourth single on February 17, 2021. OK Orchestra was officially released on March 26, 2021, with the Blue Man Group featuring on its ninth track, “Ordinaryish People”. At the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, “Bang!” received an award for winning “Top Rock Song”, and they performed the song alongside “Way Less Sad”.

Following the release of OK Orchestra, AJR collaborated with the American bands Weezer and Daisy the Great, releasing a remix of Weezer’s “All My Favorite Songs” on May 12, 2021, and a remix of Daisy the Great’s “Record Player” on August 31, 2021.

2022–present: The Maybe Man

On April 22, 2022, the band announced that a new song would be released before the OK Orchestra Tour resumed. AJR signed to Mercury Records in May 2022, and officially released the song “I Won’t” through the label on July 29 with an accompanying music video. On November 12, the band released a video teaser announcing their new album, abbreviated as TMM, and released the follow-up single “The DJ Is Crying for Help” on November 18. On January 27, 2023, Quinn XCII released “Too Late”, featuring AJR. The song appeared as track 7 on Quinn’s fifth studio album, The People’s Champ. The single came after the cancellation of 2020’s Everything Everywhere Tour, which would have seen both artists performing alongside each other.

On April 21, 2023, the band released the album’s third single, “The Dumb Song”. The next day, a music video was released detailing the events of the one-and-a-half-year-long process of creating the song. The band surprise released a lyric video for a new song titled “God Is Really Real” on July 3, detailing the brothers’ relationship with their father, Gary, who was terminally ill at the time of its release. The band announced later that day that Gary had died. On August 28, AJR announced the album’s title, The Maybe Man, with a release date of November 3. The album’s tracklist and artwork was revealed on September 12, and the band released the fifth and final single “Yes I’m a Mess” on September 29 with a music video on October 25. On October 11, 2023, AJR announced that the release date of The Maybe Man had been delayed by one week to November 10. On November 8, 2023, AJR announced The Maybe Man Tour, the band’s first arena tour, beginning in 2024.

Personal life

The brothers are Jewish. Their parents are Gary Metzger, an architect, and Laurie Marvald, who began her career as an architect, attending Cornell University, then moving on to entrepreneurship. Laurie created and was one of the original founding partners of AJR Productions, LLC. She held an executive and management role until 2022.

The three members of AJR grew up in Bayside, Queens, until moving to Chelsea, Manhattan, in 2001. There, Jack attended the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. Jack was a child actor, appearing in The Pink Panther 2 as well as an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

Adam received a BA from Columbia University, majoring in business and philosophy, an MA from New York University, and PhD in International Human Rights Law from the University of Birmingham, while Ryan and Jack studied film at Columbia University.

Artistry

The brothers are singer-songwriter themselves. Being known for as a DIY band, they emphasize writing, producing, and mixing all of their own music collaboratively from their living room studio. AJR describes their musical style is a mixture of many different genres such as dubstep, doo-wop, hip-pop and theatrical musical like Broadway, whereas the band has been categorized as indie pop by the news and magazine.

Band members

AJR

• Adam Met – vocals, bass guitar, sampler, percussion, programming
• Jack Met – lead vocals, guitar, ukulele, sampler, melodica, drums, percussion, keyboards, banjo, synthesizers, cowbell, programming
• Ryan Met – vocals, keyboards, ukulele, sampler, production, programming

Touring/session members

• Arnetta Johnson – trumpet, keyboards
• Chris Berry – drums, percussion
• Ginny Luke – violin, strings

Former touring member

• JJ Kirkpatrick – trumpet

Apple Music

US

• AJR

New York, NY, United States · 2006 · Pop

AJR—the brother trio of Adam, Jack and Ryan Met—started out playing the streets of their New York City home in 2005 when Jack, the youngest, was only eight. Soon enough, the busking money was spent filling their family’s apartment with the instruments and recording equipment that would pave their way to a full-time music career. AJR’s first break came in 2012 when their single “I’m Ready” caught the eye of Sia, leading to a deal that spawned their 2015 major-label debut, Living Room. It proved that the multi-instrumentalists love big beats, harmonies, and choruses in the style of the Jonas siblings, Fun., and a bit of Broadway flair. They grew both bolder and more vulnerable on 2017’s The Click with “Weak,” a confessional shout-along about succumbing to temptation, the Rivers Cuomo-assisted “Sober Up,” and the triumphant “Burn the House Down,” which became an anthem for the gun violence movement March for Our Lives. The brothers’ lyrics and sound matured even more on 2019’s Neotheater and the 2020 single “Bang!” blending lyrics about heartache, paying taxes, and refusing to throw away their Lego sets. It perfectly sums up AJR: They write and perform like they’re wise beyond their years, but they won’t give up on their youth.

CN

AJR 是由 Adam、Jack、Ryan Met 三兄弟组成的美国独立流行三人组，从青少年时期的纽约街头表演，到 2012 年的单曲《I’m Ready》吸引了澳大利亚歌手 Sia 等的关注，AJR 逐渐走红。AJR 首张专辑《Living Room》展示了他们强调重打击乐、和声的多器乐演奏风格，演唱方式更融合了流行摇滚乐队 Jonas Brothers、Fun. 等的清爽俏皮和百老汇风格。AJR 的后续作品则更在青春气质之外，流露出早慧的思索，无论是以创作声援反枪支游行“March for Our Lives”，还是探讨诱惑、忏悔等人生困惑和心理健康、税收等社会问题，AJR 在大胆地袒露情绪的过程中不断成熟。

Apple Music - AJR
网易云音乐 - AJR