A2 Media Studies: Research: Detailed Research Into Chosen Artist: Gallant

Biography

Gallant, also know as Christopher Gallant, was born on November 14th, 1991. He is an american singer/songwriter who comes from Columbia, Maryland. He self-released a EP in his early years called Zebra. Gallant was born in Washington D.C. and started recording dongs quite early in his middle school years. His main inspiration and influence was R&B music however this later changed with age as his music taste did; alternative rock became his main source of influence. He then went on to study music at New York University and graduated in 2013. Three years after he released his Studio album Ology worldwide on April 2016.

Career

Gallant moved to Los Angeles, California to work on his music career in 2013 after he finished university. This was followed by the release of his EP Zebra he was found shortly after by Mind of a Genius Records, the founding David Dann. 2015 was the year his single Weight in Gold was covered by artist Zane Lowe on Beats1 air date June 2015. During the same year of 2015, Gallant got the chance to tour with Sufjan Stevens in which he performed at 18 different shows all around North America. From this he was one out of 15 people on Spotify that was going to "break out" in 2016.

He was then featured in a tour with Zhu's, another artist by the same record label. This tour lasted through the months of April and May starting at Coachella. In 2016, after Coachella, Gallant and Jhene Aiko released their first self written song together called "skipping stones". The song was licenced under the Red Bull Media House and featured in the sound select collection along with B-side "Borderline". He performed both weekends at Coachella

From preforming for the whole weekend Billboard Had label him the most iconic moment at the entire festival. The first weekend included an appearance from seal; the pair performed Seal's song "Crazy" and Gallant's song "Weight in Gold". The next weekend Gallant performed yet again but this time with a surprise appearance from Jhene Aiko where they performed their song "Skipping Stones"

Gallant started a series called In The Room on January 6, 2016. His first episode was with Surjan Stevens in which they both performed a song written by Gallant called "Blue Bucket of Gold". Gallant then went on to partner with Spotify for his second episode. This episode featured Seal who Gallant had performed with at Coachella the same year. In this episode both artists performed Gallant's hit song "Weight in Gold" and to finish the episode Seal stated he was in fact "Gallant's biggest fan". The third episode included Gallant and Jack Garratt covering "I Get Lonely" by Janet Jackson.

This got him noticed by John Legend in which they performed Legend's dong "Overload". This lead on to Gallant having more collaboration with Andra Day and Dua Lipa on the further episodes.

Soon after Gallants debut studio album was released on April 6, 2016 by his record label Mind of a Genius Records. His album was a hit and got a rating from pitchfork of a 7.5/10, 4/5 from The Guardian which made the bold statement that "If this is what R&B’s future looks like it’s brighter than ever". His album was also rated one of the 25 best albums of 2016 by Entertainment Weekly and they praised him on his diverse sound voice and lyricism.

Gallant then started to get TV exposure when on May 12, 2016 he ended up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in which he performed "Weight in Gold". This ended with a standing ovation and Fallon then ending the show with the quote "Oh my goodness! I told you… Watch out for this guy". September of the same year he performed "Weight in Gold" and "Bourbon" for BBC on Later... With Jools Holland. Then the following month Gallant made an appearance at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards as a Special Artists singing "Weight in Gold".

The following year was went his media exposure was at its pinnacle. January he was chosen as Elvis Duran's Artist of the month and on the 11th of the same month he performed "Weight in Gold" live on NBC's Today show. On the 26th of the same month he released "Cave Me In" with Epik High's and Eric Nam. He then went on to he the opening act on John Legends tour Darkness and light.