Wrabel | |
|---|---|
 Wrabel in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Stephen Samuel Wrabel |
| Born | January 7, 1989 New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | wrabelmusic |
Stephen Samuel Wrabel [1] (born January 7, 1989), known mononymously as Wrabel, is an American singer, songwriter and musician based in Los Angeles.
Wrabel attended private high school at The Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas. After high school, he studied at the Berklee College of Music for a semester until he left Boston to move to LA and focus on songwriting. [2] He got his first big break when he was signed to Pulse Recording as a songwriter. [3]
In 2010, Wrabel recorded the theme song for the NBC game show Minute to Win It , "Get Up", produced by Eve Nelson.
Wrabel was signed to Island Def Jam in 2012 by Island Def Jam Music Group chairman and CEO Barry Weiss and Executive Vice President/Head of A&R Karen Kwak. [4]
In 2014, Dutch DJ Afrojack released a version of Wrabel's song "Ten Feet Tall", resulting in an international hit. The song premiered in the United States during Super Bowl XLVIII in a Bud Light commercial and was viewed by around 100 million viewers. [5] Wrabel later released the original piano-based version of the song on May 19, 2014. [6] BuzzFeed named the Afrojack version of "Ten Feet Tall" one of the "35 Best Pop Songs You May Have Missed This Summer". [7]
On June 24, 2016, Wrabel released his single "11 Blocks", which was heavily supported and promoted by Kesha. [8] He also released both a lyric video and a music video for the song. He released his second single, titled "Bloodstain", on March 10, 2017. [9] A lyric video for the song was released the same day. In May 2017, he released an EP titled We Could Be Beautiful. [10]
In July 2017, he released a song titled "The Village", [11] the song dedicated to show support for transgender people. The video shows a teenage trans boy living with his closed-minded family while the lyrics explain the difficulties in being transgender and a part of the LGBT community. The video ends with "#trans_rights_are_human_rights". The song was written in February 2017 after the removal of federal protections for trans students in public schools, and was quickly released after Donald Trump tweeted about banning transgender individuals from the military. [12]
On the April 22, 2019, episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show , Pink praised Wrabel and his video for "The Village", stating, "The song 'The Village' will break your heart into many little tiny pieces... he's great." [13]
Billboard named Wrabel their Pride Artist of the Month in August 2019 saying "For the last decade, the 30-year-old singer-songwriter has been working with big names like Kesha and Adam Lambert while slowly building up his solo career. Now, he's ready for his breakthrough." [14]
People magazine called Wrabel One to Watch in October 2019, saying "in 2019 he went from behind-the-scenes player to pop star." [15]
In September 2019, The Huffington Post said Wrabel is "One of pop's unsung talents", adding "Recommendation from an artist of Pink's stature, on a huge platform like The Ellen DeGeneres Show, was an overdue acknowledgment of a prolific, if still overlooked, talent." [16]
Wrabel was named to the OUT100 in 2017 and is a GLAAD Media Award Nominee for Outstanding Music Artist. [17]
Nylon says Wrabel's debut EP Sideways is "stocked with the soulfulness of a Sia or Sam Smith, and a melodic pop DNA that throws back to icons like Paul Simon, the title track twists heartbreak into something, well, beautiful." [18]
BuzzFeed named "I Want You" one of "The Most Criminally Underrated Pop Songs of 2015". [19]
MNDR released a remix of Wrabel's "I Want You" on October 21, 2015, which premiered on Noisey. [20]
His songwriting credits include releases by Pentatonix, Pink, Kesha, Louis The Child, Kygo, Marshmello, Backstreet Boys, and Ruel. [21]
Wrabel is openly gay. He is invested in promoting LGBTQ+ rights as a member of this community. His song "11 Blocks" is autobiographical describing his feelings about his first love who had moved 11 blocks away from him in California. [22] The music video for his song "Bloodstain", directed by Isaac Rentz, depicts suffering and heartache in a relationship, while the star Wrabel is fighting for his life. [23]
The music video to his 2017 song "The Village", directed by Dano Cerny, depicts a trans teenager struggling with gender dysphoria, using a binder to flatten his chest and dealing with hostile family members, with the lyrics discussing the same topics. [24] [25] The video includes a caption "In nature, a flock will attack any bird that is more colorful than the others because being different is seen as a threat" and ends with a caption "Dedicated to all the colorful birds" and the hashtag "#TransRightsAreHumanRights". [24] [25] In an interview about the song and video with Billboard , he described it as "the most important thing to me that I have ever done and probably will ever do. It's the closest thing to my heart." [24] He wrote the song in February 2017, shortly after Donald Trump removed federal protections for trans students in public education, and asked his management to rush the release of the video after Trump announced a ban on trans military personnel, with the video including a visual reference to Trump's ban. [24] [25]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(February 2021) |
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| These Words Are All for You | |
| Based on a True Story |
| Title | Year | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| US Heat. [26] | ||
| Sideways |
| 10 |
| We Could Be Beautiful |
| — |
| One of Those Happy People |
| — |
| Piano |
| — |
| Chapter of Me |
| — |
| Chapter of You |
| — |
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| One Nite Only |
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Bub. [27] | US AC [28] | US Adult Pop [29] | US Dance [30] | CAN AC [31] | |||
| "11 Blocks" | 2016 | 18 | 21 | 12 | — | 31 | We Could Be Beautiful |
| "Bloodstain" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "It's You" (with Magical Thinker) | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
| "The Village" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "First Winter" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "That's What I'd Do" (Live) | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | One Nite Only |
| "I Want You" (Live) | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Woman" (Live) | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Oh Love" (with Parson James and Vincent) | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
| "I Want You" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Love to Love U" | — | — | — | — | — | One of Those Happy People | |
| "The Real Thing" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Magic" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Flickers" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Flying" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Happy People" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Too Close" (with Louis the Child) | — | — | — | 40 | — | Non-album singles | |
| "(It Wouldn't Be) Christmas Without You" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Somebody New" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Hurts Like Hell" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Since I Was Young" (with Kesha) | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Big Love" (with Klingande) | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Good" | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | These Words Are All for You |
| "Nothing But the Love" | — | — | 33 | — | — | ||
| "Back to Back" (with Duncan Laurence) | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "London" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Worst Kind of Hurt" (with Laura Marano) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | TBA |
| "Happier" [32] | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | Chapter of Me and Based on a True Story |
| "On the Way Down" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "One Drink Away" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Turn Up the Love" | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Abstract Art" | — | — | — | — | — | Chapter of You and Based on a True Story | |
| "We All Could Use Some Help" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Beautiful Day" | — | — | — | — | — | Based on a True Story | |
| "Lost Cause" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||
| Title | Year | Peak positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [33] | US Pop [34] | US Dance [30] | CAN [35] | CAN CHR [36] | |||
| "Ten Feet Tall" (Afrojack featuring Wrabel) | 2014 | 100 | 22 | 9 | — | 43 | Forget the World |
| "Ritual" (Marshmello featuring Wrabel) | 2016 | — | — | 11 | 82 | — | Non-album singles |
| "Another Side" (Matisse & Sadko and Robert Falcon featuring Wrabel) | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Resentment" (Kesha featuring Brian Wilson, Sturgill Simpson and Wrabel) | — | — | — | — | — | High Road | |
| "Mean It" (Cash Cash featuring Wrabel) [37] | — | — | — | — | — | Say It Like You Feel It | |
| "Moon Rider" (Jai Wolf featuring Wrabel) [38] | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "Mirror" (Illy featuring Wrabel) [39] | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | The Space Between |
| "Feel Again" [40] (Armin van Buuren featuring Wrabel) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | Feel Again, Pt. 1 |
| "Something I Could Never Be" (Tony Ann featuring Wrabel and Nour) | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Silent Night / Light of the World" | 2012 | — | Dream Christmas |
| "We'll Be Okay" | 2014 | Afrojack | Forget the World |
| "You Know It's About You" | 2015 | Magical Thinker | Leap! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
| "With You" | 2017 | Kygo | Kids in Love |
| "Written in the Scars" | Galantis | The Aviary | |
| "90 Days" | 2019 | Pink | Hurts 2B Human |
| "BFF" | 2020 | Kesha | High Road |
| "Mirror" | 2021 | Illy | The Space Between |
| "When You Need It" | 2022 | Tenille Townes | Masquerades |
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album | Written with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Shine" | 2011 | Stan Walker | Let the Music Play | Jon Asher, Drew Pearson |
| "Loud" | ||||
| "Nirvana" | 2012 | Adam Lambert | Trespassing | Oligee, Josh Abraham, Adam Lambert |
| "So Easy" | Phillip Phillips | The World from the Side of the Moon | Pete Amato, Pete Salis | |
| "Kiss Kiss" | 2013 | Prince Royce | Soy el Mismo | Fernando Garibay, Dougy Mandagi, Amanda Warner |
| "Crazy Ass B*tch" | 2015 | Rozzi Crane | Space | Crane, Kendrick Lamar, Adam Levine, Ali Tamposi, James Valentine |
| "Blue" | Will Young | 85% Proof | Jim Eliot, Dan McDougall | |
| "Break" | Katharine McPhee | Hysteria | McPhee, Pearson | |
| "Rose Gold" | Pentatonix | Pentatonix | Scott Hoying, Avi Kaplan, Pearson | |
| "Devotion" | Ellie Goulding | Delirium | Goulding, Ali Payami, Klas Åhlund | |
| "In Our Bones" | 2016 | Against The Current | In Our Bones | Tommy English, Tamposi, Chrissy Costanza, Will Ferri, Dan Gow |
| "Cold" | Citizen Four | Cold | Pearson, Makeba Riddick | |
| "Everybody Knows" | Idina Menzel | idina. | Greg Wells | |
| "Tough" | Goldroom | West of the West | Josh Legg, MoZella, Nico Stadi | |
| "You Know It's About You" | 2017 | Magical Thinker | Leap! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | Christopher Braide |
| "Crave" | Dia Frampton | Bruises | Frampton, Stadi | |
| "Hey You" | Lea Michele | Places | Michele, Tamposi, Nick van de Wall | |
| "Run to You" | Michele, Tamposi | |||
| "Surround Me" | Leon | Surround Me | Jon Mills, Kurtis McKenzie, Léon | |
| "True Feeling" | Galantis | The Aviary | Candy Shields, Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback, Jimmy Koitsch, Linus Eklow | |
| "Written in the Scars" | ||||
| "Woman" | Kesha | Rainbow | Pearson, Kesha Sebert | |
| "Emotional" | ||||
| "With You" | Kygo | Kids in Love | Pearson, Erik Hassle, Kygo | |
| "Better Not" | 2018 | Louis The Child | Robby Hauldren, Frederic Kennett, Rogét Chahayed, Wafia | |
| "Joshua Tree" | Rozzi | Bad Together | Eric Leva, Rozzi Crane | |
| "Bad Together" | Rozzi | Bad Together | Eric Leva, Rozzi Crane | |
| "Baby" | Bishop Briggs | Sarah Grace McLaughlin, John Hill, Sean Douglas | ||
| "LY4L" | Katelyn Tarver | Kool Aid | Tarver | |
| "Water" | Bishop Briggs | Church of Scars | John Hill, Sean Douglas, Briggs | |
| "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" | Backstreet Boys | DNA | Jamie Hartman, Stuart Crichton | |
| "Healing Hands" | Conrad Sewell | Ghosts & Heartaches | Sewell | |
| "Still Good" | DNCE | People to People | Eric Leva, Crichton & Robin Hannibal | |
| "I'm Good" | Wafia | Wafia | ||
| "Here Comes The Change" | Kesha | Pearson, Kesha Sebert | ||
| "Rich, White, Straight Men" | 2019 | Kesha | Pebe Sebert, Kesha Sebert, Crichton | |
| "Best Day" | Kesha Sebert, Scott Harris, Ryan Lewis, Joshua Robert Rawlings, Elan Wright, Phillip Peterson, Saba Samakar | |||
| "Raising Hell" | High Road | Kesha Sebert, Ajay Bhattacharya, Sean Douglas | ||
| "Flowers and Superpowers" | Wafia | Wafia, Roget Chahayed, Hitboy | ||
| "Hard Sometimes" | Ruel | Free Time | Mark Landon, Ruel Vincent Van Dijk | |
| "call the police" | the three of us | Madi Diaz, Jamie Floyd | ||
| "for months now" | the three of us | Madi Diaz, Jamie Floyd | ||
| "Where We Started" | Bailey Bryan | Perspective | Scott Harris, Rick Markowitz, Bailey Bryan | |
| "Space" | Yoshi Flower | Peer Pleasure | Joshua Smith, Danny Parra, Adam Comstock | |
| "Strange" | Celeste | Not Your Muse | Celeste Waite, Jaime Hartman | |
| "All The Feels" | Fitz and the Tantrums | All the Feels | Michael Fitzpatrick, Morgan Dorr, Jeremy Ruzumna, Noelle Scaggs, John Wicks, Joseph Karnes, James King | |
| "Bad Habit" | Ben Platt | Sing to Me Instead | Jesse Thomas, Ben Abraham, Ben Platt | |
| "Chateau" | Backstreet Boys | DNA | Stuart Crichton/Michael Pollack/James Newman/Cole Citrenbaum | |
| "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" | 2020 | Louis Tomlinson | Walls | Louis Tomlinson, Stuart Crichton, Cole Citrenbaum, James Newman |
| "Dream on Me" | Ella Henderson & Roger Sanchez | Gabriella Henderson, Jordan Riley, Roger Sanchez, Uzoechi Emenike | ||
| "Kid Again On Christmas" | Tori Kelly | A Tori Kelly Christmas | Tori Kelly | |
| "Side" | 2021 | Pentatonix | The Lucky Ones | Kevin Olusola, Madi Diaz, Matt Sallee, Mitch Grassi, Stuart Crichton |
| "20 Minutes" | 2022 | Years & Years | Night Call | Olly Alexander, Jesse Shatkin |
| "Muscle" | Olly Alexander, Joel Little | |||
| "Lost Cause" | 2023 | Pink | Trustfall |
Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American songwriter and record producer. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live as its house band's lead guitarist in 1997 and producing remixes for artists such as Bon Jovi and Gravediggaz. He came into music prominence in 2004 for producing Kelly Clarkson's single "Since U Been Gone" with Swedish record producer Max Martin.
Kim Petras is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republic Records in 2021.
Justin Drew Tranter is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Frequently co-writing with Julia Michaels, Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Sara Bareilles, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, DNCE, Citizen Queen, Kesha, Imagine Dragons, The Knocks, Fifth Harmony, 5 Seconds of Summer, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Raye, Bea Miller, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, Måneskin, and Fall Out Boy. From 2004 to 2014, Tranter was the lead singer of Semi Precious Weapons, a rock band based in New York. Since February 2017, they have been a board member of GLAAD, an organization that promotes LGBT acceptance in the entertainment and news industries. Tranter's songs have garnered over 50 million single sales and 40 billion streams on Spotify and YouTube as of May 2021.
"Tik Tok" is the debut single by American singer Kesha, who co-wrote the song with its producers Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. It was released on August 7, 2009, as the lead single from her debut studio album, Animal (2010). The opening line of the song came from an experience where Kesha woke up surrounded by beautiful women, to which she imagined P. Diddy being in a similar scenario. The experience prompted the writing of the song which she later brought to her producer, Dr. Luke, who was then contacted by P. Diddy in hopes of a collaboration; he came to the studio the same day and recorded his lines, and the song was completed. The official remix features American rapper Pitbull.
Kesha Rose Sebert, known mononymously as Kesha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, she was signed to Kemosabe Records. Kesha's first major success came in early 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round".
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"C'Mon" is a song by American singer Kesha from her second studio album, Warrior (2012). It was released as the album's second single on November 16, 2012. The song was written by Kesha, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Max Martin, Cirkut, and fellow pop singer and longtime collaborator Bonnie McKee, while production was handled by Dr. Luke, Blanco, and Cirkut. Containing elements of pop rap, "C'Mon" is a techno-pop, bubblegum pop, and dance song with brash lyrics that center on partying and falling in love. Stylistically, the song follows a verse-chorus pattern typical in pop music, with Kesha adding traditional singing in the latter and the discordant enunciation and stresses of vowels to force assonance and rhyme that epitomize her rap technique in the former.
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Rosemary Patricia "Pebe" Sebert is an American singer and songwriter from Brentwood, Tennessee, and the mother of singer and songwriter Kesha. Sebert has co-written number-one hits for Dolly Parton, Pitbull, and Kesha, her daughter. Sebert and Kesha have written 11 published songs together. The songs Sebert wrote for other artists have combined sales of over 8 million copies in the United States alone. In 2013, Sebert appeared as a regular on reality show Kesha: My Crazy Beautiful Life, which starred Kesha and was filmed by her son Lagan.
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"Ritual" is a song by electronic dance music producer and DJ Marshmello, featuring American singer Wrabel. It was released on November 1, 2016, and marked his first release on American record label Owsla. The song appeared on the charts in the US and Canada, peaking at number 8 in the US Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart. The song was also renowned for its music video, due to its copyright dispute by Canadian electronic music producer deadmau5.
Rainbow is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Kesha. It was released on August 11, 2017, by Kemosabe and RCA Records. Primarily a pop record, Rainbow incorporates elements of pop rock, glam rock, neo soul, and country pop. Its lyrical themes range from letting go of the past, finding forgiveness within oneself for past mistakes, self-worth, and female empowerment. Kesha assumed an integral role in the album's production and collaborated with several producers, including Ricky Reed, Drew Pearson, Ben Folds, and her mother Pebe Sebert.
"Swerlk" is a song by American electronic singer MNDR and American pop band Scissor Sisters. It was released as a single on June 9, 2017, by WonderSound Records. MNDR and Scissor Sisters conceived the song in honor of the one-year remembrance of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. "Swerlk" was released in conjunction with GLAAD and proceeds from the sales benefited the Contigo Fund, a non-profit organization for LGBTQ individuals. The website swerlk.com was developed to funnel donations directly to Contigo.
Stuart Crichton is a music producer/songwriter from Scotland, currently based in Los Angeles, California.
High Road is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Kesha. It was released on January 31, 2020, through RCA and Kemosabe Records. Announced in late 2019, the album saw the singer once again taking over the role of sole executive producer, following Rainbow (2017). She collaborated with various songwriters and record producers to achieve her desired sonority, combining elements of her career beginnings and Rainbow. Musically, High Road is primarily a pop, country and classic rock record, although it encompasses a variety of genres, including dance-pop, folk, electronic pop, synthpop, trip hop, electro-country, EDM, trap, dream pop, hip hop, and gospel.
"Resentment" is a song by American singer Kesha featuring Brian Wilson, Sturgill Simpson, and Wrabel. It was released as the third single from her fourth studio album, High Road, on December 12, 2019, in Australia only.
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