Jake Hagood (born March 29, 1991), better known as Who Is Fancy, is an American singer. He co-signed with
Scooter Braun
Scott Samuel "Scooter" Braun (born June 18, 1981) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and entertainment executive. Known as the manager for artists such as Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, J Balvin, Demi Lovato, The Kid Laroi and other artists ...
and
Scott Borchetta
Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American record executive and founder of the Big Machine Label Group. He started the label in 2005 with 13 employees, as its president/CEO and encompasses four imprints: Big Machine Records, BMLG Record ...
on
Big Machine Label Group
Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by ...
and
Dr. Luke
Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American record producer and songwriter. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy ...
on Prescription Songs.
His single "Goodbye" was released in early 2015, peaking at number 29 on the ''Billboard''
Mainstream Top 40
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
chart.
Fancy was presented at the
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
Music Summit, although his identity was kept secret.
Early life
Jake Hagood was born March 29, 1991, in Bentonville, Arkansas. He taught himself to play piano at age eleven. He grew up listening to Christian and Country music.
After finishing high school in Arkansas, Hagood moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend
Trevecca Nazarene University
Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1901.
History
TNU was founded in 1901 by Cumberland Presbyterian minister J. O. McClurkan as the "Pentecostal Literary ...
.
The name, "Fancy", was a nickname given to him by coworkers at Forever 21 during this time.
While attending university, Hagood wrote original music and performed around the Nashville area. He left the university after being discovered by producers
Scooter Braun
Scott Samuel "Scooter" Braun (born June 18, 1981) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and entertainment executive. Known as the manager for artists such as Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, J Balvin, Demi Lovato, The Kid Laroi and other artists ...
,
Scott Borchetta
Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American record executive and founder of the Big Machine Label Group. He started the label in 2005 with 13 employees, as its president/CEO and encompasses four imprints: Big Machine Records, BMLG Record ...
, and
Dr. Luke
Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American record producer and songwriter. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy ...
.
Hagood is openly
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
.
Career
Beginning in January 2015, Hagood, his management team, and his record label, built a viral campaign around the singer and his debut single "Goodbye". The single was released without revealing the person behind the "Fancy" pseudonym. A series of pseudo-music videos and a lyric-only clip were viewed more than 4 million times on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, and with early radio support from stations like New York's Z100, the song reached number 29 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Mainstream Top 40
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
chart,
number 48 on the ''Billboard'' Digital Songs chart, and number 98 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. Three music videos for the single were released, featuring three different actors lip-syncing to the song. Each video dealt with themes like gender identity and body positivity. A fourth music video featuring the performer himself in the same setting was filmed but never released.
In an interview with ''USA Today'', Hagood said that one of motivations behind the campaign was for people to "know
isart before they knew
im. However, the concept met with a mixed response from some of Hagood's friends, including pop singer
Meghan Trainor
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...
, who says she was vocally against it from the start. "I felt like you're hiding this guy," she told The Canadian Press. "What I loved about (Who is Fancy) was his appearance. He's this bubbly, happy person … he has the confidence, he has everything, and they just — I don't like what they did."
Hagood finally revealed his identity on April 7, 2015, in an appearance on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...
''.
To promote his second single "
Boys like You", Who Is Fancy performed with collaborators
Meghan Trainor
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...
and
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...
on ''
Dancing with the Stars
''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...
'' on January 23, 2016.
After "
Boys Like You" failed to perform on the charts, Hagood parted ways with manager
Braun
Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to ''Brown'' (''see Brown (surname)'') ...
and
Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
. In an interview with
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...
, he said that he hoped to relaunch his career in summer 2016.
In 2016, Hagood was featured on Clean//Photograph, a
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
and
Ed Sheeran
Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
mashup by Nashville singer-songwriter Louisa Wendorff. The mashup received good reviews, and was featured in articles on Billboard, Seventeen, and others.
Hagood reflected on his experience with a major label, and how they softened his gay persona: "It was everyone wanting to see me win, and they were like, 'Well, maybe you can't win if you're this (type of person),'" he says. "But maybe I could, you know what I mean?"
Concert tours
Who Is Fancy has opened for both
Meghan Trainor
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...
's
MTrain Tour
The MTrain Tour was the second North America headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor to support of her 2015 debut major-label studio album ''Title''. The tour was announced in March 2015, with dates being released a ...
and
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...
's
The Honeymoon Tour
The Honeymoon Tour was the second concert tour and the first arena tour by American singer Ariana Grande in support and to further promote her second studio album, '' My Everything'' (2014). It was officially announced on September 10, 2014. It t ...
.
Discography
Singles
Music videos
* "Goodbye"
* "
Boys Like You"
Notes
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fancy, Who Is
1991 births
Living people
21st-century American singers
American male pop singers
Big Machine Records artists
American gay musicians
American LGBT singers
American LGBT songwriters
LGBT people from Arkansas
People from Benton County, Arkansas
People from Bentonville, Arkansas
Republic Records artists
Singers from Arkansas
Songwriters from Arkansas
21st-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
American male songwriters
Gay singers
Gay songwriters
American gay writers