Mod Sun | |
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![]() Mod Sun in 2015 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Derek Ryan Smith |
Also known as | Dylan Smith |
Born | Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. | March 10, 1987
Education | Jefferson High School |
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 2004–present |
Labels | |
Member of | |
Website | modsunmusic |
Derek Ryan Smith (born March 10, 1987), known professionally as Mod Sun [a] (stylized as MOD SUN or MODSUN), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and musician from Bloomington, Minnesota. He has released five solo studio albums, three EPs, and six mixtapes. He is also a member of the alternative hip hop duo Hotel Motel. [2]
Beginning his musical career by playing drums in pop punk band the Semester and post-hardcore groups Four Letter Lie and Scary Kids Scaring Kids, [3] Smith began a solo rap career in 2009 under the name Mod Sun. The release of his fourth solo studio album Internet Killed The Rockstar saw a stylistic shift back to pop punk. [4] His fifth studio album God Save the Teen , released in 2023, followed in its footsteps. [5]
Derek Ryan Smith was born on March 10, 1987, in Bloomington, Minnesota. Later his father left for California and his parents divorced, after which Smith spent some time living with his father in Long Beach, California. From age five to 10, he moved frequently due to his mother having to relocate for various jobs. [6] He spent much of his time growing up on a farm in Corcoran, Minnesota. [7] Smith's father lived next door to Bud Gaugh, drummer of Sublime, who influenced him to become involved in music. [1]
In his teens, Smith began attending concerts in his local pop punk scene. He became an increasingly prominent figure in the scene through his mother encouraging him to attend concerts and ask the touring band members whether they wanted to stay the night at their house. In the following years, Smith and other local bands and musicians in the scene became increasingly interested in fashion and influenced by New Jersey and Drive-Thru Records emo bands, leading to them becoming members of the scene subculture. [8] In eighth grade, he designed merchandise for bands. [1]
Smith's first band was the pop punk band Sideline Heroes. [9] He then began playing drums for local pop punk band the Semester in his sophomore year of high school. He spent the following four years in the band, before being kicked out three months after his graduation. [4] In 2005, he became a member of the post-hardcore band Four Letter Lie. [10] In 2009, he left the band to pursue his passion in rap and Mod Sun endeavours. He went on to be a drum tech for Scary Kids Scaring Kids. He was eventually asked to be the drummer for Scary Kids Scaring Kids, which he accepted under the condition that he could open for the band on tour as a solo artist. [1] [11]
Mod Sun has released five mixtapes and three EPs throughout his solo career. His style of music has been described as "hippy hop".
Mod Sun's debut album, Look Up , was released on March 10, 2015, through Rostrum Records. [11] It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. [12]
On March 10, 2017, his second studio album, Movie , was released, also through Rostrum Records. It peaked at #16 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. [13]
His third studio album BB was released on November 10, 2017, and spawned the single "#noshirton".
In early 2020, Mod Sun announced he had started working on his forthcoming fourth studio album. [14] Its lead single "Karma" was released on October 30, 2020. [15] The accompanying music video was released three weeks later on November 16, 2020, and was directed by Machine Gun Kelly. [16] The song "Bones" was released as the album's second single on November 27, 2020. [17] The music video for "Bones" was released on December 21, 2020, via Mod Sun's official YouTube channel and was directed by Charlie Zwick. [18] The album's third single, "Flames", was a collaboration with Avril Lavigne. [19] On January 18, 2021, Downfalls High , a film Smith co-directed with Machine Gun Kelly was released. [4] On 25 January, 2021 Mod Sun officially announced the album title, Internet Killed the Rockstar , and its release date, February 12, 2021.
On March 12, 2021, he released the single "Heavy" featuring blackbear. [20] The same month he signed a long-term deal with Big Noise. [21]
On August 26, 2021, it was announced that he would star in and co–direct the film Good Mourning With A U, alongside Machine Gun Kelly, Dove Cameron, Megan Fox and Becky G. [22] The film was later retitled to simply Good Mourning , and was released on April 20, 2022.
On May 7, 2021, a deluxe version of Internet Killed the Rockstar was released. It features five new tracks as well as acoustic versions of "Karma" and "Flames" and a piano version of "Bones".
On February 18, 2022, Mod Sun released a documentary about his life entitled Remember Me Just Like This on his YouTube channel. The documentary included a teaser for his next single "Rich Kids Ruin Everything", which was released on March 11, 2022.
On February 25, 2022, Avril Lavigne's seventh studio album Love Sux was released. Mod Sun produced, provided drums for, and cowrote every song on the album (with the exception of "Dare to Love Me" and "Break of a Heartache", which Lavigne wrote alone).
On June 10, 2022, he released the single "Perfectly Imperfect".
On August 19, 2022, he released the single "Battle Scars".
In November 2022, Mod Sun announced the title for his upcoming fifth studio album: God Save the Teen . The album was revealed to be released in early 2023, though an exact release date was yet to be announced. [23]
On December 9, 2022, he released the single "Sexoxo" featuring Charlotte Sands.
On January 17, 2023, he revealed the album artwork and tracklist for his fifth studio album God Save the Teen, and announced that it would be released on February 3. The tracklist contained twelve new songs, including a cover of the song "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls.
On February 3, 2023, God Save the Teen was released. [24]
Beginning in October 2018, Smith was in a polyamorous relationship with internet personality Tana Mongeau and actress Bella Thorne. After the throuple's breakup, he began a monogamous relationship with Thorne. [25] Smith and Thorne became engaged, got married and then subsequently divorced, all within 15 months. [26] In early 2020, he began a monogamous relationship with Mongeau, but they broke up by the end of the year. [27]
In early adulthood, Mod Sun was a heavy drug user, but quit in 2019 after he overdosed on a number of drugs and almost died. According to a 2023 interview with Spin magazine, Sun admitted to feeling guilty about his drug use and said, "One thing that'll make everything stop for you in life is walking around carrying shame. Every time I did a line of cocaine, I felt absolute shame. I knew in my heart I was like, 'This is going to kill me.' I had to eliminate that. It's like...I [had] my suitcase of trauma that I was carrying around every single day, and I traded that in for a toolbox to give me the tools to really bring my life to where I wanted to go." [28]
From 2021 to 2023, he was in a relationship with Canadian musician Avril Lavigne. [26] They later got engaged in Paris in April 2022, but subsequently broke off the engagement on February 21, 2023. [29] A spokesperson for Sun initially appeared surprised, saying "they were together and engaged as of 3 days ago when he left for tour so if anything has changed that's news to him." Lavigne was photographed hugging rapper Tyga after the split, sparking rumors that the two were dating. [30] On February 28, Sun confirmed the split, saying "In 1 week my entire life completely changed… I just know there's a plan for it all… I'll keep my head up + always listen to my heart, even when it feels broken. Being surrounded by love every night on tour has been an absolute blessing. I have the best friends in the entire world, thanks for always having my back. See you on stage." [31]
In November of 2024, Mod Sun began dating Love is Blind Season 7 contestant Brittany Wisniewski. [32]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [33] | US Alt. [34] | US R&B/ HH [35] | US Heat [36] | US Ind. [37] | ||
Look Up |
| 120 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 7 |
Movie |
| — | — | — | 16 | 40 |
BB |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Internet Killed the Rockstar |
| — | — | — | 21 | — |
God Save the Teen |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Title | Details |
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The Hippy Hop EP |
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In MOD We Trust |
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Happy as Fuck |
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Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Alt. [39] | US Rock [40] | CAN Dig. [41] | NZ Hot [42] | UK Down. [43] | |||||||||||||||||
"Need That" | 2010 | — | — | — | — | — | In MOD We Trust | ||||||||||||||
"Paradisity" | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"All Night, Every Night" (with The Ready Set) | 2012 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||||||
"Save" (with Ab-Soul, Rich Hil and Metasota | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"My Hippy" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | — | Look Up | ||||||||||||||
"1970" | 2014 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Howlin' at the Moon" | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Pound on the Way" | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||||||||
"We Do This Shit" (with DeJ Loaf) | 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | Movie | ||||||||||||||
"Two" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Beautiful Problem" (with gnash & Maty Noyes) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
happyBB" | — | — | — | — | — | BB | |||||||||||||||
"#noshirton" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"poundzzzzzz" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"address on the internet" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Runaway" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||||||
"Burning Up" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Psycho Smile" | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Tell Me All Your Secrets" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Blue Cheese" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Selfish" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Shoulder" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Amen" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Tipi/2005 Flex Up" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"I Remember Way Too Much" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Uppers & Downers" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Stay Away" (featuring Machine Gun Kelly) | 2020 | — | — | — | 27 [44] | — | |||||||||||||||
"Karma" | — | — | — | — | — | Internet Killed the Rockstar | |||||||||||||||
"Bones" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Flames" (featuring Avril Lavigne) | 2021 | 21 | 35 | 50 | 40 | 74 | |||||||||||||||
"Heavy" (with blackbear) | — | — | — | — | — | Internet Killed the Rockstar (Deluxe) [45] | |||||||||||||||
"Down" (featuring Travis Barker) | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||||
"Rich Kids Ruin Everything" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Perfectly Imperfect" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Battle Scars" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Sexoxo" (featuring Charlotte Sands) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"Strangers" | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Sunshine" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
"Hotel Lights" | 24 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Bashira | Club Owner | [49] | |
2022 | Measure of Revenge | Lord MacBeth | [50] | |
Good Mourning | Dylan | Also director, writer, and producer Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture | [51] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Cooking on High | Himself | 2 episodes | [52] |
2021 | Ridiculousness | Episode: "Mod Sun" | [53] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Album | Himself | credited as writer | [54] |
2019 | I Remember Way Too Much | Himself | [55] | |
2021 | Downfalls High | Director, writer, cameo | [56] | |
2022 | Remember Me Just Like This | Himself | Subject of documentary | [57] |
Year | Title | Artist | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | "Sail" | Machine Gun Kelly | [58] |
2016 | "All Night Long" | [59] | |
"Shoot 'Em Down" (feat. Machine Gun Kelly & Blackbear) | Mod Sun | [60] | |
2017 | "Sublime remiXX" | Machine Gun Kelly | [61] |
2020 | "Concert for Aliens" | [62] | |
"Drunk Face" | [63] | ||
2021 | "Flames" (feat. Avril Lavigne) | Mod Sun | [64] |
"Amnesia" | [65] | ||
"Bite Me" (Acoustic Version) | Avril Lavigne | [66] | |
"Down" (feat. Travis Barker) | Mod Sun | [67] | |
2022 | “Rich Kids Ruin Everything" | [68] | |
2024 | "Just My Type" | Palaye Royale | [69] |
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in the development of pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include eight Grammy Award nominations.
Pop-punk is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes. It is distinguished from other punk-variant genres by drawing more heavily from 1960s bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys. The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, hip hop, emo, boy band pop and even hardcore punk and metalcore. It is sometimes considered interchangeable with power pop and skate punk.
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Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne has released seven studio albums, nine extended plays (EPs), 33 singles, and 40 music videos, and she has appeared on several movie soundtracks and charity albums. With worldwide sales of 50 million albums and 50 million singles, Lavigne is ranked as the third top-selling Canadian female artist in history. Billboard listed her as the eighth best-selling Canadian artists of the Nielsen Music Canada era. According to Recording Industry Association of America, Lavigne has sold 28.07 million albums and singles in the United States.
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"Flames" is a song by American singer Mod Sun featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. The song was released by Big Noise on January 8, 2021, as the third single from Mod Sun's fourth studio album Internet Killed the Rockstar. The song was written by Mod Sun, Lavigne and John Feldmann, and produced by the latter.
Internet Killed the Rockstar is the fourth studio album by American musician Mod Sun. It was released on February 12, 2021, by Big Noise Music Group. Produced by John Feldmann, the album marks a departure from Mod Sun's hip hop sound in favor of pop-punk. The album was promoted with three singles: "Karma", "Bones" and "Flames", the latter of which is a collaboration with Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne.
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Love Sux is the seventh studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released on February 25, 2022, by DTA and Elektra Records. Her first studio album since Head Above Water (2019), Lavigne worked on Love Sux with various artists including Machine Gun Kelly, Blackbear and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182. Musically, it embraces emo pop angst and Lavigne's early skate punk influences from Blink-182, Green Day, NOFX and the Offspring. The album was preceded by two singles: "Bite Me" and "Love It When You Hate Me".
"Bois Lie" is a song by Canadian singer Avril Lavigne featuring American musician Machine Gun Kelly. It is the second track on Lavigne's seventh studio album Love Sux. The song was released as a promotional single on August 26, 2022, along with an official music video. Upon the release of Love Sux, the song peaked at number 85 on the Canadian Hot 100.
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Kevin Gruft or Kevin Thrasher or Kevin "Thrasher" Gruft is an American guitarist and music producer from Albany, New York, known for being the former lead guitarist of the rock bands Escape the Fate and LoveHateHero. He released two studio albums with LoveHateHero and three studio albums with Escape The Fate since joining the band in late 2013 until his departure in early 2021.
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