Ryan Beatty

Cover for Ryan Beatty's Bruise

        Genre: Pop

        Age: 24

        Est. 2012

        Label: Mad Love/Interscope Records

        Monthly Listeners: 668,000 

Ryan Beatty is another one of the many musicians I found by listening to BROCKHAMPTON. Though he is not a part of the rap collective, he has done vocals for them in songs “BLEACH,” “QUEER,” “SUGAR,” “VICTOR ROBERTS,” and “NO HALO.” He has also collaborated with Kevin Abstract in his own solo projects, doing vocals on “Baby Boy” and “Crumble” and in Tyler, the Creator’s “Lights On” and “I Think.” Yes, this is me recommending all of them, go listen to all of them. His voice is so pretty so I completely understand why all these musicians want him on their songs. Aside from all these features, though, he makes amazing music of his own.

He started uploading song covers on YouTube in 2011 and was able to get tons of attention on the platform. In one of his videos, he covered “Marry You” by Bruno Mars and got 6 million views on it. Unfortunately, all of his old song covers have been made private on YouTube so it’s very hard to find them. Lots of people claimed he was the next Justin Bieber at the time, though, so I’m sure you can definitely imagine his look. He went on to release several successful songs for Radio Disney and even toured with Cody Simpson. He was even nominated for a Teen Choice Award twice. This was all incredibly surprising to me because his current look is so different that I couldn’t imagine him ever having been in that scene. I’m guessing that the fact that he doesn’t have those songs as part of his Apple Music or Spotify discography means that he consciously stepped away from that era. That’s totally understandable. 

I was late to the Ryan Beatty fandom, for the first song of his that I heard was “Bruise,” which was released as a single last year. I immediately loved it and it became one of my favorites for a while. Ryan sings about the past, dating a girl knowing he had a crush on a boy. When he finally released the full album “Boy in Jeans,” the song “Cupid” became my favorite. His songs are for the most part pretty chill and slow. I love playing them in my car because nobody can hear how badly I sing them. His range is just so much more advanced than mine. Obviously. He is a professional singer. But there’s such passion in his voice that you know must be just so effortless for him and it’s a little humiliating when you (I) try to imitate it but you still do because the song is that good. But only in your car.

I know Ryan isn’t an underground artist, but he also definitely isn’t getting the attention that he deserves. He absolutely has the talent to be a successful musician, he just might need a little more exposure for this new image that he has created for himself.