AJR (band)

AJR are an American pop band composed of multi-instrumentalist brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Metzger. The band writes, produces, and mixes their material in the living room of their apartment. Their most successful songs are "I'm Ready", "Weak", "100 Bad Days", "Burn the House Down" and “Bang!”.[1] In 2019, their third album Neotheater debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200,[2] and hit number 1 on the Top Rock Albums chart.[3]

AJR
From left to right: Ryan, Jack and Adam Metzger
Background information
Origin	Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Genres	Indie pop electropop doo-wop electronic dubstep
Years active	2005–present
Labels	AJR Productions Liberator Warner Bros. BMG Black Butter
Website	ajrbrothers.com
Members	Adam Metzger Jack Metzger Ryan Metzger

The name "AJR" comes from the first initials of the three brothers, Adam, Jack, and Ryan.[4] Their musical style has been described as "electric," combining elements of pop, doo-wop, electronic, and dubstep.[5]

History

2005–2013: Formation and debut album

The Metzger brothers initially began writing, producing and mixing their own material in the living room of their Chelsea apartment in Manhattan, New York, focusing on DIY indie pop music. They began performing around 2006, busking in Central Park and Washington Square Park. They began their musical talents when Jack played the harmonica, Ryan played the piano, and Adam played the bass. However, currently they play various different instruments. They began by performing covers,[6] they also released two 2010 albums called “Venture“ and “Born and Bred“, and two EPs, "AJR" and "We Are Here" which were later removed.

In November 2012, AJR's Ryan Metzger tweeted a link to a video of their song "I'm Ready" to about 80 celebrities, including Australian singer Sia Furler.[6] Furler 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.[7] He acts as their co-manager.[6] AJR's debut single, "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.[8] The song was placed in regular rotation on Sirius XM Radio's Top 20 on 20 and Hits 1 stations,[7] and they performed the song on Good Day New York and VH1's Big Morning Buzz.[9] The official music video for "I'm Ready" premiered on VEVO on October 15, 2013.[6][10]

AJR released their debut EP, 6foot1 (later renamed I'm Ready after the band signed to Warner Music Group), on December 20, 2013. They were named Clear Channel's "Artist on the Rise" for the month of October 2013. By 2014, the band was already named IHeartRadio's Artist of the Month for Top 40 in January,[11] and a Myspace "One to Watch" in February,[12] while "I'm Ready" officially impacted pop radio in April. There are now over 31 million YouTube views for "I'm Ready", many thousands of singles sold each week, features in Billboard and the New York Post, while climbing the Top 40 chart. "I'm Ready" hit #1 on Next Big Sound's chart in May 2014. The band performed the song on Today on July 29, 2014. "I'm Ready" has been certified Platinum, in Canada and Platinum in Australia.

2014–2015: Infinity and Living Room

The band's second EP, Infinity, was released September 23, 2014. It contains 5 tracks, including the lead single "Infinity".[13] They released a lyric video for the single. A majority of the work for the video was done by AJR, including directing and producing.[14] 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 that the delay in their debut album was because they wanted to add some of their newer music to the project.

2016–2018: The Click

The brothers released their third EP, titled What Everyone's Thinking, on September 16, 2016, which features the lead single "Weak". The lead single was written by the band in a day, within a few hours, without any idea of the future success the single would have.[15] "Weak" has been certified Platinum in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Netherlands and Belgium, and Gold in Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Australia. It has over 450 million streams on Spotify.

The band released its second studio album, The Click, on June 9, 2017, featuring the singles "Weak", "Drama" and "Sober Up", which features frontman Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, who co-wrote the track. This song reached number one on the Mediabase Alternative Singles chart in 2018. The band's 2018 tour in support of the album, The Click Tour, featured Hundred Handed, Grizfolk, Ocean Park Standoff, and MAX as openers.[16]

In 2017, AJR released "It's On Us," a single written in collaboration with the It's On Us campaign, which was launched by Barack Obama in 2014 to combat sexual assault in college campuses across the United States.[17]

An extended version of The Click was released on September 21, 2018. The Click (Deluxe) 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 Mediabase Alternative Singles 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.

2019: Neotheater

On January 30, 2019, AJR released "100 Bad Days", the first single for their then-unannounced album Neotheater.[18] A music video was released on March 8. The song was included on Taylor Swift's Apple Music playlist, "Playlist by ME!" in May, 2019. The lyrics, "maybe a hundred bad days made a hundred good stories, a hundred good stories make me interesting at parties," are used in Taylor's description of this playlist of songs she loves and appreciates. On March 5, the band teased the second single, "Birthday Party."[19] On March 11, the band announced their third studio album, Neotheater, which was to be released on April 26.[20] “100 Bad Days”, was performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on March 11.[21] On March 11 , the second single, "Birthday Party" was released.[22] The third single, "Dear Winter," was teased on April 1,[23] and released on April 5, with a music video being released later that same day.[24] The album debuted on April 26 at #1 on Billboard's Top Alternative Albums, #1 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums, and #8 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums. On October 25, the group released "Dear Winter 2.0," re-imagining the song by "changing the production and upping the emotion." [25]

2020: "Bang!"

On February 12, a new single "Bang!" was released, with a music video the next day.[26]

Tours

• I'm Ready Tour (2014)
• Infinity Tour (2014)
• Living Room Tour (2015)
• What Everyone's Thinking Tour (2017)
• What Everyone's Thinking Tour Part 2 (2017)
• The Click Tour (2018)
• The Click Tour Part 2 (2018)
• Neotheater World Tour (2019)[27]
• Neotheater World Tour Part II (2020)[28](Cancelled due to COVID-19)
• Everything Everywhere Tour (2020) (Cancelled due to COVID-19)

AJR has opened for Hoodie Allen,[29] Train, Fitz & the Tantrums, Andy Grammer, We the Kings, Demi Lovato, Ingrid Michaelson,[30] American Authors, and Melanie Martinez.

Their Neotheater World Tour took the band to Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Ireland and Poland in November 2019.[27] On November 13, 2019, the group announced the Neotheater World Tour Part 2. Dates were released on November 15.

On May 14, 2020, the band announced the cancellation of their upcoming tours due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating via Twitter that "it’s more important to us that [our fans] are safe".[31]

Band members

• Adam Metzger (born August 27, 1990) – vocals, bass guitar, programming, samples, percussion
• Jack Metzger (born August 16, 1997) – lead vocals, guitar, melodica, ukulele, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, samples, programming
• Ryan Metzger (born March 3, 1994)[32] – vocals, programming, keyboards, ukulele, producing, samples

Instrumentalists

The following instrumentalists have toured with AJR:[27]

• JJ Kirkpatrick – trumpet
• Chris Berry – drums

Personal lives

The brothers have described themselves as "culturally Jewish".[33][34] Adam is a PhD candidate at the University of Birmingham, while Ryan and Jack study at Columbia University.[35]

Ryan has synesthesia and has said that it helps him with his music production process, stating in a YouTube video:

"I see visuals when I'm hearing the music, and that very much helps when I'm building … and choosing the right drums."[36]

The brothers also have a Bouvier dog named Shay.[35]

Discography

Albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [37]	US Indie [38]	BEL (FL) [39]	CAN [40]
Born and Bred	Released: March 20, 2010 Label: LARJ Productions Formats: CD	—	—	—	—
Venture	Released: September 12, 2010 Label: LARJ Productions Formats: CD	—	—	—	—
Living Room	Released: March 3, 2015 Label: Liberator Music, AJR Productions, Warner Bros. Records Formats: Digital download, CD	—[upper-alpha 1]	—	—	—
The Click	Released: June 9, 2017 Label: AJR Productions Formats: Digital download, CD, Vinyl	61	9	170	—
Neotheater	Release: April 26, 2019 Label: AJR Productions Formats: Digital Download, CD, Vinyl	8	1	—	95
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

EPs

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [37]	US Heat
AJR	Released: 2012 Label: Self-released	—	—
6foot1	Released: December 20, 2013 Label: AJR Productions, Liberator Music Formats: Digital download, CD	—	32[42]
Infinity	Released: September 23, 2014 Label: AJR Productions, Warner Bros. Records Formats: Digital download, CD	—	36[42]
What Everyone's Thinking	Released: September 16, 2016 Formats: Digital download, CD	164	—
Spotify Singles	Released: July 28, 2017 Label: S-Curve Records Formats: Digital download, Streaming	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Singles

As lead artist

Title	Year	Peak chart positions										Certifications	Album
		US [43]	US Alt [44]	US Pop [45]	AUS [46]	BEL (FL) [39]	CAN [47]	NLD [48]	NOR [49]	SWE [50]	UK [51]
"Go On Take a Chance"	2010	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Born and Bred
"212"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Venture
"50 States Away"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Let It Snow"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album single
"Snowglobe"	2011	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		AJR
"More Than Friends"	2012	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"The Night Before"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Help! The Beatles Complete On Ukulele
"I'm Ready"		65	—	27	5	—	—	—	—	—	—	RIAA: Platinum ARIA: 2× Platinum[52]	Living Room
"Infinity"	2014	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Let the Games Begin"	2015	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album single
"Call My Dad"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		The Click
"I'm Not Famous"	2016	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Weak"		73	—	27	—	7	78	8	8	23	58	RIAA: 2× Platinum[53] ARIA: Platinum[54] BEA: Platinum MC: 2× Platinum[55]
"The Lotto" (with Ingrid Michaelson)		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album singles
"It's on Us"	2017	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Drama"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		The Click
"Sober Up"[56] (featuring Rivers Cuomo)		—[upper-alpha 2]	1	29	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RIAA: Platinum[58] MC: Gold[59]
"Burn the House Down"	2018	100	2	—	—	—	99	—	—	—	—	ARIA: Gold[54] RIAA: Gold [60] MC: Platinum[61]	The Click (Deluxe Edition)
"100 Bad Days"	2019	—	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RIAA: Gold [62]	Neotheater
"Birthday Party"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Dear Winter"		—	28	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Dear Winter 2.0"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album single
"Bang!"[63]	2020	78	2	28	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		TBA
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

As featured artist

Title	Year	Album
"Celebrate" (Ingrid Michaelson featuring AJR)	2016	Alter Egos EP
"Darlin" (Mike Love featuring AJR)	2017	Unleash The Love
"Pretender" (Steve Aoki featuring Lil Yachty and AJR)	2018	Neon Future III

Music videos

List of music videos, showing year released and directors

Title	Year	Director(s)
"Go On Take A Chance"	2011	AJR
"Snowglobe"	2012
"More Than Friends"
"The World Is A Marble Heart"
"We The Cool Kids"
"I'm Ready"
"I'm Ready"	2013	Or Paz and Tom Trager
"Infinity"	2015	Jason Merrin
"Overture (Living Room)"
"Woody Allen"		AJR
"Thirsty"
"Call My Dad"		AJR, Leon Wu and Nels Lindquist
"Let the Games Begin"	2016	Jason Merrin
"I'm Not Famous"
"Weak"	2017	Shane Drake
"Overture (The Click)"		Miles Murphy
"Sober Up"	2018	Aaron A
"Come Hang Out"		Ron Peters
"Burn the House Down"		The Mitchells & Spencer Hord
"Role Models"
"100 Bad Days"	2019	Tim Nackashi
"Dear Winter"		AJR
"Bang!"[64]	2020	Se Oh

Awards and nominations

iHeartRadio Music Awards Year Nominee Award Result 2018 AJR Best new boy band Nominated 2019 AJR Best new Rock/Alternative Rock artist Nominated Teen Choice Awards Year Nominee Award Result 2019 AJR Choice Rock Artist Nominated 2019 AJR Choice rock song: 100 bad days Nominated

See also

• List of people with synesthesia

Notes

1. Living Room did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number 20 on the US Heatseekers Albums Chart.[41]
2. "Sober Up" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.[57]

References

1. Hyman, Dan (September 24, 2013). "NYC Brother Trio AJR 'Ready' for Stardom". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
2. AJR Scores First Top Rock Albums No. 1 With 'Neotheater' Retrieved 13 June 2019
3. "AJR Scores First Top Rock Albums No. 1 With 'Neotheater'". Billboard.
4. "5 things to know about indie-pop band AJR". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
5. Miller, Gregory E. (October 15, 2013). "Could AJR be the next Jonas Brothers?". New York Post. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
6. Miller, Gregory E. (15 October 2013). "Could AJR be the next Jonas Brothers?". New York Post.
7. Hyman, Dan (24 September 2013). "NYC Brother Trio AJR 'Ready' for Stardom". Billboard.
8. ""I'm Ready" on iTunes". Retrieved 2013-12-12.
9. "AJR brothers perform 'I'm Ready'". MYFOXNY.COM. 17 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013.
10. AJR (2013). I'm Ready (Music video). VEVO.
11. "About iHeartRadio On The Verge Artist – Get Articles, Bio & Show Info – iHeartRadio". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
12. "AJR Video by ONETWOWATCH on Myspace". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
13. Frometa, RJ. "AJR move release of debut album "Living Room" to Feb. 2105, "Infinity" EP due 9/23". Vents. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
14. Wass, Mike. "AJR Return With Nostalgic New Single "Infinity": Watch The DIY Lyric Video (Idolator Premiere)". Idolator. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
15. "5 things to know about indie-pop band AJR". ABC News. 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
16. "AJR - The Click Tour, with Ocean Park Standoff, Hundred Handed," Archived 2018-02-07 at the Wayback Machine etix.com. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
17. Kaplan, Rebecca. "Civic Nation BrandVoice: It's On Us And AJR Partner On Charity Single To Change the Conversation Around Sexual Assault". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
18. AJR (2019-01-29). "Our new single 100 Bad Days is now available for you. Definitely don't tag your friends in the comments. We don't want them to know about it". @AJRBrothers. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
19. AJR (2019-03-04). "pic.twitter.com/wb00BCdNEX". @AJRBrothers. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
20. AJR (2019-03-10). "NEOTHEATER - 4/26 (ALBUM TRAILER)pic.twitter.com/Ntx3cjzGmY". @AJRBrothers. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
21. "AJR - 100 Bad Days" YouTube. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
22. @AJRBrothers (2019-03-11). "NEW SONG 'BIRTHDAY PARTY' AND NEOTHEATER ALBUM PREORDER IS AVAILABLE NOW. ajr.ffm.to/neotheater pic.twitter.com/ORl5mj18Q9" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
23. @AJRBrothers (2019-04-01). "DEAR WINTER. Thursday Night. (It's not about the season.)pic.twitter.com/cuB0quxoyg" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
24. @AJRBrothers (2019-04-04). "'DEAR WINTER' OUT NOW. Hope it means as much to you as it does to us. ajr.ffm.to/neotheater pic.twitter.com/stm3jQWPlh" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
25. AJR (2019-10-24). "We reimagined Dear Winter, changing the production and upping the emotion. Dear Winter 2.0 comes out tomorrow". @AJRBrothers. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
26. Mamo, Heran. "AJR Truly Go Out With a 'Bang!' in New Video: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
27. Emma Gallagher (September 28, 2019). "Review: AJR erupts with energy for tour start". The Creightonian. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
28. Union, Wonderful. "AJR". AJR. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
29. www.girafficthemes.com, Giraffic Themes. "AJR on Tour with Lindsey Stirling! - AJR". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
30. "Ingrid Michaelson Announces the "Hell No Tour" • Digital Tour Bus". Digital Tour Bus. 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
31. AJR (2020-05-14). "Due to everything going on, we aren't able to move forward with the upcoming tours. We're bummed, but it's more important to us that you guys are safe. If you bought tickets or VIP, you'll be emailed about refunds or you can go to http://livenation.com/refund.pic.twitter.com/auFCAEaN3b". @AJRBrothers. Retrieved 2020-05-21. External link in |title= (help)
32. https://twitter.com/ajrbrothers/status/969967229268889600?lang=en
33. E. Miller, Gregory (October 15, 2013). "Could AJR be the next Jonas Brothers?". New York Post. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
34. Raspe, Becky (Jan 28, 2019). "Hozier, Sheryl Crow, AJR on tap for LaurelLive". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
35. La Gorce, Tammy (May 17, 2019). "How the members of the band AJR spend their Sundays". The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
36. Breaking down the production of Three-Thirty, Next Up Forever and Bang!. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020 – via YouTube.
37. "AJR – Chart history – Billboard". billboard.com.
38. "AJR – Chart history – Independent Albums". billboard.com. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
39. "Discografie AJR". ultratop.be.
40. "AJR – Chart history – Canadian Albums". billboard.com.
41. "AJR – Chart History: Top Album Sales". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
42. "AJR | Album Discography". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
43. "AJR – Chart History: The Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
44. "AJR Chart History: Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
45. "AJR Chart History: Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
46. "Discography AJR". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
47. "AJR – Chart History: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
48. "Discografie AJR - dutchcharts.nl". dutchcharts.nl.
49. "VG-lista – AJR". Archived from the original on 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
50. "Sverigetopplistan – Sveriges Officiella Topplista". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
51. "AJR | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
52. Ryan, Gavin (November 1, 2014). "Ed Sheeran Tops ARIA Singles For Third Week". Noise11. Noise Network. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
53. "American single certifications – AJR – Weak". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
54. "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2020 Singles". ARIA. 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
55. "Gold/Platinum - AJR". Music Canada. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
56. "Indie Spotlight: AJR | News". BMI. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
57. "AJR Chart History: Bubbling Under Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
58. "American single certifications – AJR – Sober Up". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
59. "Canadian certifications – AJR – Sober Up". Music Canada. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
60. "AJR - BURN THE HOUSE DOWN". RIAA.
61. "Canadian certifications – AJR – Burn the House Down". Music Canada. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
62. "AJR - 100 BAD DAYS". RIAA.
63. "AJR on Twitter: And we're back. BANG! 2/12". February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020 – via Twitter.
64. "AJR - BANG! (Official Video)". February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.

External links

Official website