""World Famous," the whimsical, scene-setting fantasy that opens August Ponthier's debut album, Everywhere Isn't Texas, dreams that perhaps the singer-songwriter's chance of being a superstar might only materialize a "multiverse away." They sing of mingling with Elvira and Vincent Price, performing in underwater theaters and talking to "ghosts and ghouls" over the radio. "World famous, not on Earth," they sing, as if dazed, the song's twinkling omnichord making Ponthier sound like a figurine twirling in a haunted music box."
"It's never been more difficult for a new artist to breakthrough in the music industry to release a sustaining hit album on the strength of the music alone than fad trends, to build a loyal fanbase, to get people to hear you. The industry continues to be in a weird place, and every day it only seems to get more bizarre, as bland megastars continue to enthrall the masses, generative AI threatens to whittle humanity entirely out of the art."
"Ponthier, a 29-year-old Brooklyn artist originally from the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, gets this surreality intimately. The artist's debut album comes after scrappily building a career on social media, multiple introductory EPs and opening for artists like Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile. But it also comes after a stint being signed and then dropped by Interscope records before Ponthier even had a chance to release it; "I was kicking and screaming with my claws in," they told Variety of the split."
“World Famous” opens Everywhere Isn't Texas with a multiverse-daydream of fame mingling with Elvira, Vincent Price, underwater theaters and “ghosts and ghouls,” set to a twinkling omnichord. The album arrives amid a difficult industry landscape where trends, megastars, generative AI and fierce competition for attention make breaking through harder than ever. Ponthier, 29, grew up near Dallas and is based in Brooklyn, built a following via social media, EPs and opening slots for Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile, and had a major-label stint with Interscope that ended before the album's release.
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