Congratulations to Darius Coleman. On this week’s (June 11) Songland, guest artist Kelsea Ballerini chose the Philadelphia native’s song, “Better Luck Next Time” as her next single. As of Wednesday evening, the tune, co-produced by Songland team member Ryan Tedder, hit No. 2 on the overall iTunes chart. It is the highest charting winning song from Songland so far.
Songland 2019 Recap: Kelsea Ballerini (VIDEO)
Darius already had an impressive resume. According to this 2017 Revolt piece, the artist was a songwriter on the FOX musical drama, Empire. Meanwhile his song, “Sundown” was featured in a Cadillac promotional video. “Exception” is his most recent single, according to his socials, which include Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
Listen to Kelsea’s official single “Better Luck Next Time” written by: Kelsea Ballerini, Ryan Tedder, Andrew DeRoberts, Darius Coleman, Taylor Sparks, Shane McAnally & Ester Dean. The song is available to download and stream on iTunes now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZz6Ke-EEY
Also, watch Darius perform the final Ryan Tedder produced version of his original song. I do like Darius’ version of “Better Luck Next Time” quite a lot. It is almost a shame he didn’t get to keep it for himself.
https://youtu.be/BOAWo_q8hkw
These days, Darius lives in Los Angeles and is working towards his big break. As Darius mentioned on the show, Ryan Tedder was featured on his “vision board” for quite some time. Consequently, collaborating with the hitmaker was a real thrill. Nevertheless, the duo faced some challenges as they reworked the song to fit Kelsea’s vibe. For instance, it was important to find the right key for Kelsea’s voice. As a team, they obviously succeeded!
Most of Kelsea’s hits are in the country genre. And while the panel paid lip service to each song’s country potential, the end product is very pop.
Next week on Songland, the Jonas Brothers will be looking for that perfect song. Songland airs at 10 pm on NBC.
