Postmodern Jukebox, also widely known by the initialism PMJ, is a rotating musical collective founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. PMJ is known for reworking popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early 20th century forms such as swing and jazz. Postmodern Jukebox has amassed over 1.8 billion YouTube views and 5.8 million subscribers.[1]
Each week, Postmodern Jukebox releases a new video on YouTube. Although originally most were filmed casually in Bradlee's living room, sets became more elaborate over time. The band has covered songs by artists ranging from Lady Gaga and The Strokes to Katy Perry and the White Stripes. Since their beginnings as a small group of friends making music in a basement in Queens, New York, Postmodern Jukebox has gone on to feature 70 different performers and tour six continents.[2]
Postmodern Jukebox originated when Scott Bradlee began shooting videos with friends from college in his basement apartment in Astoria.[3][4] This group included bassist Chris Anderson, saxophonist Ben Golder-Novick, harpist Brandee Younger, and vocalist Emma Walker.
Bradlee struggled for years as a jazz musician in New York City before one of his videos ("a medley of '80s songs done ragtime style")[5] became popular in 2009. He received a message on Twitter from author Neil Gaiman.[4] Two years later his video for "A Motown Tribute to Nickelback"[6] included Drue Davis (emcee), Steve Ujfalussy (saxophone, EWI) Adam Kubota (bass), Allan Mednard (drums), and Tim Kubart (tambourine).
2012–present
With over one million views in its first week,[7] and four million in its first year,[8]Robyn Adele Anderson's cover version of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" (2012) was Postmodern Jukebox's first viral music video.[9][10] The song was included on Introducing Postmodern Jukebox (2013) and reached No. 8 on the Billboard magazine jazz album chart.[11][12] This was followed by her cover of Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" in 2013.[13][14] The band performed on Good Morning America in September.[12]
In late 2013, Postmodern Jukebox was invited to the New York City offices of Cosmopolitan to film a year-end tribute to 2013, covering the year's hit songs with arrangements from different genres and times.[15] The "Just Another Day at the Office" mashup included Robyn Adele Anderson singing "Blurred Lines", Cristina Gatti singing "Holy Grail", Anderson and the Tee Tones singing "We Can't Stop", Karen Marie singing "Roar", Ashley Stroud singing "Royals", and Andromeda Turre singing "What Does the Fox Say?".[16][17] The production was completed in a single take,[18] and a companion behind-the-scenes video was also produced.[19]
In 2014, Kate Davis performed a cover version of Meghan Trainor's song "All About That Bass" (2014) in Scott Bradlee's living room after three hours of practice. Davis sang and played double bass; her rendition gathered 8million views in three months.[20] "I knew the song, probably could have done it on the fly. Maybe that's why it's so funny. I remember thinking it was so funny at the time I was going to crack up, maybe five times."[21] The 1940s arrangement and piano accompaniment is by Bradlee with Dave Tedeschi on drums. The single was a success, catching the attention of Time,[22]Billboard,[23]The Huffington Post,[24] and PBS NewsHour.[20]
BuzzFeed featured a doo-wop cover of "Timber," with Robyn Adele Anderson and The Tee Tones fronting, in February 2014.[25] The group's cover of Radiohead's seminal 1990s hit "Creep," performed by Haley Reinhart, was called a "stunning listen" by the Los Angeles Times in April 2015.[26] As of April 2022, the video had over 105 million views and was their most viewed video.[27]
In 2015, Broadway actress Shoshana Bean became active with the group as a guest artist when Bradlee moved to Los Angeles.[28]Broadway World raved about Bean's performance of Sia's "Chandelier" at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California,[29] and Billboard did a feature story on Motown version of Justin Bieber's "Sorry".[30] Bean joined the Postmodern Jukebox 2016 spring European tour at its midway point.[28]
Ariana Savalas and Sarah Reich perform "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco.
Sara Niemietz performed with the cast in August 2015, covering the Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" (1983),[31] PMJ's rendition of "Hey Ya!" (2003) by Outkast,[32][33] a Dixieland arrangement of Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" (2015),[34][35] and a club version of the "Pokémon Theme".[36] Niemietz joined the band's northeastern leg of its 2015 U.S. tour and the entire 2016 European tour.[37] MTV U.K. caught up with the show in London and spotlighted a big band cover version of Elle King's "Ex's & Oh's" (2014) with Niemietz on vocals and Sarah Reich tap dancing.[38]
In early February 2016, Postmodern Jukebox covered David Bowie's song "Heroes" in honor of World Cancer Day with vocals by Nicole Atkins. The song was released to earn money for the Cancer Research Institute.[39] In 2016, Heineken announced a global partnership with Formula One racing, and in September released the "If You Drive, Never Drink" campaign commercial with driver Sir Jackie Stewart (the "Flying Scot") and "Heroes" as background music.[40]
Around the same time, PMJ started Reboxed, consisting of new versions of songs that had already been covered. The first Reboxed song was by Niemietz and the Sole Sisters singing "Bad Romance", which had been sung by Ariana Savalas with Sarah Reich tap dancing.[41]Adweek named Bradlee one of "20 Content Creators Who Are Setting the Bar for Creativity in 2016".[42]
In late May 2018, PMJ surpassed the one billion view mark on YouTube. Bradlee, members of the band, and guests hosted their first live stream event from the PMJ Manor to celebrate.
On June 12, 2018, Scott Bradlee released his first book, a memoir entitled Outside The Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession Into My Dream Gig.[43] The book received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly,[44]The Weekly Standard,[45] and Billboard.[46]
In 2014, PMJ started the first annual #PMJSearch contest to discover musical talent. The month-long competition asks fans to submit videos of themselves performing versions of PMJ songs for a chance to perform on an upcoming official video. Out of the many videos that are submitted each year, the winner is selected by Scott Bradlee. Past winners include Holly Campbell-Smith (2015), Devi Ananda (2016), and Olivia Kuper Harris (2017), all of whom went on to be featured in PMJ videos, as well as on tour with the band. Harris' feature on "Last Friday Night" caught the attention of the song's original singer, Katy Perry, during an online feature for Glamour.[47]
Touring
Postmodern Jukebox in Sofia 15 May 2018Adam Kubota - Postmodern Jukebox in Sofia 15 May 2018
On February 24, 2016, Postmodern Jukebox opened at the Dubai International Jazz Festival, alongside Sting, Toto, Chris Botti, and David Gray.[48]
The 2016 tours included three continents:
a 75-date European tour starting at Vicar Street in Dublin, Ireland, wrapping on June 3, 2016 in Athens, Greece.[49]
A 16-city Australia/New Zealand tour, which kicked off on August 29, 2016 at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch, wrapping on September 20, 2016 at the Perth Concert Hall.[50] and
a 45-stop fall North American tour, kicking off on September 29, 2016 at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island, and wrapping on November 27, 2016 in Mesa, Arizona.[51]
The 2017 tour included concurrent dates in Europe and the US, with two separate "casts" of musicians.[52][53]
PMJ made its first visit of South America in August 2017, with four dates in Brazil and one in Argentina.
In April 2018, PMJ made their debut in Africa, performing in Tunisia at the Jazz a Carthage Festival[54] and Morocco at the Jazzablanca Festival,[55] marking the sixth continent on which they've performed.
Xavier Woods appeared in the cover of "What Is Love", with his trombone "Francesca" and later recorded a video that was released on his channel (UpUpDownDown), in which they cover the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song.[65]
"GUNS N' ROSES' 'Sweet Child O' Mine' Like You've Never Heard It Before". Blabbermouth.net. 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016. Postmodern Jukebox actually originated as a musical concept created by our bandleader/pianist Scott Bradlee", lead singer Robyn Adele Anderson told Pipe Dream last year. "He came up with the term some years ago when he first started covering songs in different genres. I loved the idea but didn't get involved until February of [2013] when Scott first asked me to be in a video (our vintage 'Thrift Shop' cover) and we've continued to make videos together ever since.
Chris Baker (23 May 2013). "Postmodern Jukebox goes viral with jazzy YouTube cover of "Thrift Shop"". Syracuse Media Group. Retrieved 7 April 2016. Robyn Adele Anderson is the group's charismatic lead singer. An upstate native, she moved to New York City two years ago, hoping to start a career in music. "I wasn't sure I would ever end up singing in the real world", she said. "But now we've got millions of people watching us on YouTube." Anderson grew up in Delmar, N.Y., just outside of Albany. She studied political science at SUNY Binghamton and moved to New York City after graduating in 2011.
Kevin Fallon (11 September 2013). "Doo-Wop 'We Can't Stop': Behind the Ridiculously Good Miley Cyrus Cover". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 7 April 2016. Robyn's actually my girlfriend. We dated for about a year before I put her in one of the videos, too. "Thrift Shop" I wasn't even familiar with at the top, and she was one day just sort of singing it in jazz style. I thought, We should do video of this. And we did and posted it. It was her first video singing in public. And that has over 2 million views now.
John Orr (20 January 2016). "Kate Davis to sing with iSing". Mercury News. Retrieved 21 February 2016. The idea was to take Meghan Trainor's hit song, which preaches self-acceptance, and jazz it up in the Postmodern Jukebox style. "But I'm here to tell you," the song says, "Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top."
Michael Lawrence Quintos (30 January 2015). "BWW Reviews: Postmodern Jukebox Entertains in their O.C. Debut Concer". Broadway World. Retrieved 21 February 2016. As for Bean—good lawd, this gal can saaaang. Already one of the musical theater world's favorite "Elphabas" (from Wicked, of course), this flawless-sounding, remarkable soul diva feels right at home with PMJ's vintage sounds. Along with her slinky soul viral hit cover of Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," (which she thankfully recreated for the concert), she also blessed the audience with outstanding, jaw-dropping covers of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off."
Stephen K. Peeples (4 February 2016). "Santa Clarita Valley Entertainment Report: February 04, 2016". KHTS. Retrieved 5 February 2016. The YouTube superstar is just about to hit the road on her first tour of Great Britain, Scandinavia and Europe as lead singer of the group Postmodern Jukebox.
Shayani Mukherjee (23 April 2016). "Stunning: Watch This 14-Year-Old Sing Cyndi Lauper". Australia Network. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016. Caroline Baran, who is just 14 years old, is blessed with an incredible voice. The PMJ team was so impressed with the voice of this little girl during their #PMJ search contest that they immediately booked her and her mother's ticket to Los Angeles so that she could record a PMJ video with them.
Michele Amabile Angermiller (16 March 2016). "Watch Casey Abrams & Postmodern Jukebox Cover Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child o' Mine '". Billboard. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. The cover is part of a series of videos called Postmodern Jukebox: Reboxed. The group originally recorded the song with Motown vocalist Miche Braden. In the video, Sarah Reich joins Abrams for a tap dance.
Sharan Shetty (29 December 2015). "The Tap Awakens in This Terrific Dance Cover of the Star Wars Soundtrack". Slate. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016. The folks at Postmodern Jukebox have a new video out, but this time around there's no old-timey cover of a new-fangled tune. Instead, we get a dance—specifically, a tap dance, one that sees renowned tapper Sarah Reich shuffle and shimmy her way through the Star Wars soundtrack
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