My first exposure to the band A Great Big World came when their single Rockstar featured as a free download on iTunes back in 2014. I instantly fell in love with the melodic mix of piano and guitar on the track along with the cute love story being told through the lyrics, the song even previously featured in a #RandomSong post on this site.

A Great Big World is the brainchild of Ian Axel (piano and vocals) and Chad King (vocals) who both met during their time in New York University when they were both studying music business. Their first time working together would come when Axel would ask King to write a song with him, a request that King would agree to after hearing Axel sing. Shortly after a short period of writing and performing together, Axel would embark on a solo tour in 2006, and would eventually release a solo album, entitled This Is The New Year after the lead single, where all the songs were co-written with King.

In 2012 both men with eventually decide to form a band together and A Great Big World would be born. This came in the aftermath of their 2011 single, This Is The New Year, getting licenced to various television shows, including One Tree Hill and The Amazing Race.

2013 would eventually see the band get its proper big break when the track was picked up by the popular American musical comedy-drama TV show, Glee. This would help to bring the music of the band to much wider audience than had aware of it before this. In the same year, the band would end up getting signed to the Epic Records label and a three track EP would follow shortly after.

Early September of 2013 would see the release of the single Say Something. The song would go on to be reasonably successful, but a subsequent re-recording of the song by Christina Aguilera would be released in November which would debut at no. 1 on the iTunes charts.

January 2014 would see the band release their eagerly anticipated debut album, Is There Anybody Out There? The album, a collection of thirteen songs, would receive reasonably positive reviews, and would spawn five singles for the band, including This Is The New Year, Say Something, and Rockstar. The band would follow this release with a period of touring to promote the album.

AGBW-COVER

April 21, 2015 would see the band announce that they had started working on their new album, and July of that year would see the band release the promotional single for the album, Hold Each Other. The album, When The Morning Comes, would eventually be released in November 2015 after being recorded in Sarm studios in London during the summer.

MK