Nathan Thoen had only been back in Canada for three days when he got a text from his fiancé.
He was sitting with some of his fellow Bombargo band mates eating noodle bowls in Saskatoon when she messaged him. Taylor Swift, one of the biggest acts worldwide, had shared Bombargo’s song.
Thoen, who is from Prince Albert, didn’t think that was possible.
But more people kept texting. One sent a screenshot.
Indeed, Taylor Swift had shared her Spotify playlist.
(Spotify is an online music streaming website and mobile app that lets people listen to and share playlists of music.)
Among other big names such as Camila Cabello, Marianas Trench, Ed Sheeran and Lady Antebellum, there it was, Bombargo – Mr. No Good.
“After finally realizing that this was real like, and that this was happening, we were hooting and hollering, and giving high fives and hugging. It was pretty amazing.”
At first, Thoen thought that maybe it was someone on Swift’s team that put the list together. But then he saw a video of Taylor Swift talking about the list, and that it was in fact music she really loves right now.
“Taylor Swift actually loves our song. It was quite a ridiculous moment for us.”
Bombargo is the only unsigned band on that playlist. They’re also only one of two Canadian bands, Marianas Trench being the other. Already, it’s leading to a spike in popularity for Bombargo.
“We got lots of encouragement from friends and family, and lots of messages from strangers around the world that are big Taylor Swift fans that are now becoming Bombargo fans,” Thoen said.
“It’s a wild, wild thing when someone that’s so influential says she loves your music.”
The spike in popularity is the second this year for the band. In late December, they recorded a song in four days, and released it to the world. Their Spotify followers jumped from 800 to 50,000, and fans began finding them from all corners of the globe.
Eventually, that number fell back down to 35,000. But since appearing on Swift’s list, it’s jumped back above that 50,000 followers mark.
The band just returned from Bali. They took the trip to really focus on song writing. Thoen said the trip was productive, and now that the band is back home, it will be looking to record the results of that time away.
Whatever happens, while the numbers look good, for Thoen and company that’s not what this whole endeavour is about.
“Obviously any growth in any numbers is good, we’re just beyond blessed and stoked. But the thing about that is we’ve always said, some people get lost in the numbers,” he said.
“It’s about that many more humans being able to hear your artwork. We want to share our artwork with as many people as we can. To think that our songs could go around the world and be heard by a lot of people, that’s the most special thing that any artist could ask for.
“Whatever comes, we’re just so thankful and so grateful to be able to play our music. If people like it, and more people hear it, that’s just a bonus.”
