Toby Bryant
After being catapulted to the forefront of the pop world in 2018, this year has seen 20-year-old HRVY shake off the ‘next big thing’ tag to become a fully-fledged pop star in his own right. CelebMix looks over the youngster’s past 12 months…
2019 started with a touch of hispanic flair. Hopping on a remix of Danna Paola’s ‘So Good‘ in January, the collaboration landed with a Mexico based music video filmed towards the end of 2018. The collaboration would be the first taste of new music for HRVY fans in a year that would see the pop star’s streaming numbers continue to soar.
Next up was a trip northwards to Stockholm, Sweden for some time in the recording booth alongside NOTD, before celebrating a 20th birthday in Paris. More jet-setting was on the cards as HRVY headed to Japan and Korea, where a team-up with NCT Dream was blossoming, and a sold-out show was the first of the year.
March came around and the singer prepared to hit the stage again on his European tour, making 10 stops including Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam and Milan. As well as the hits, fans were treated to covers of Bazzi’s ‘Mine’, Billie Eilish’s ‘when the party’s over’ and Marshmello’s ‘Happier’, as well as Lauv & Troye Sivan’s ‘i’m so tired’. In the midst of it all, HRVY readied his first solo material of the year in single ‘Told You So‘.
Released on March 15th, the punchy electropop single marked the pop star’s most confident sound yet. Coming with a supermarket-partying video which now nears six million views, it was an exciting sign of what 2019 would continue to hold.
European tour finished and 1883 Magazine cover premiered, it was back to knuckle down to work in Los Angeles, finding time for a trip to Coachella on the side. Come late April and the star took to Instagram again to announce another new single with hopes that fans “hadn’t forgotten about me”. That track was the product of sessions with NOTD earlier in 2019 in ‘I Miss Myself’. Hits Live Birmingham gave the singer chance to take the song to the stage with production and choreography on a night when he would also rub shoulders with fellow social media sensation, Lewis Capaldi.
Between the singles, now coming thick and fast, HRVY gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at his life with a brief foray into the world of vlogging on Instagram and found time to perform across Spain for Primavera Pop, before hopping on stage in support of The Vamps at the O2 Arena at the end of May.
Finishing spring off with a bang, a set at Radio 1’s Big Weekend proved a landmark moment in the pop star’s career. A confident eight-track offering of HRVY’s trademark pop, a nod to buddy Lewis Capaldi with a ‘Someone You Loved’ cover slotted in too, the day saw the ‘Personal’ singer take to the same stage as Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus, Charli XCX, Stormzy and fellow Brit-lister Sam Fender. The show that had seen venues keep getting bigger over the past three-years had reached its most impressive moment yet.
Summer kicked off with more new music as that NCT DREAM collaboration hit services. The super-group also recruited for the ‘Don’t Need Your Love‘ club in a music video for the catchy pop flick, which helped the track up to a peak of number 3 on the Billboard charts.
A must-see event in the calendar of pop fans, Capital’s Summertime Ball arrived on June 8th. Joining DJ Jonas Blue on stage to provide vocals to the producer’s hits ‘Mama’, ‘Perfect Strangers’ and ‘Rise’, HRVY helped Blue whip the 90,000 strong crowd into a topical house frenzy. Later that month came a trip and performance in Norway before speeding across Europe to catch up with fans in Greece. Back home in July, the pop star even found time for an attempt at the Bottle Cap Challenge which went viral, pulling in over 1.3 million views on Instagram.
Canadian fans were treated to a pop-up acoustic set in July and Millie Bobby Brown added her name to the growing list of followers shortly after when re-creating the singer’s ‘Personal’ music video with fellow Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp. Elsewhere, the festival sets kept coming as HRVY headed back to Asia for YOURSUMMER Music Festival before returning to the U.K. to take to the Fusion Festival stage in Liverpool.
Come September 6th and HRVY was reunited with Jonas Blue on the single ‘Younger’. Plenty radio play and chart success for the track followed, as Sommer Ray starred in the music video. Another trip to Asia for shoots and promo in China came soon after.
Finishing the year with a bang, more music was on the way. ‘Million Ways‘, produced by the prestigious Red Triangle team, debuted on November 8th. The track’s music video saw HRVY re-unite with friend and social media star Loren, the duo behind the success of the visual to ‘Personal’, for a Dirty Dancing inspired number. Performances of the track across the globe from Manchester’s Hits Radio Live to YouTube’s FanFest Jakarta and even on Indonesian Idol followed too.
Full of early Christmas presents, a new merch drop and a spot in JD’s Christmas campaign came with a mad meet-up at Kent’s Bluewater Shopping Centre, pulled off to fans’ delight against attempted partner cancellations. A final festive treat came as HRVY once again joined Jonas Blue on the Capital stage, this time for a rallying performance of ‘Younger’ at the Jingle Bell Ball.
As 2020 arrives, a World Tour has already been announced with some of the star’s biggest headline shows to date and, if hints from a recent trip to South Africa are anything to go by, there’s plenty new music in the pipeline too.
Are you excited to see what 2020 holds for HRVY? Are you catching the pop star on tour? Let us know @CelebMix on Twitter.
