Members of the Grammy nominated group Bastille rocked the charts with their number 1 hit “Happier” alongside the popular DJ and electronic music producer, Marshmallo. However, Kyle Simmons, who plays keyboard, piano and guitar for the British-Indie pop quartet did admit that they didn’t expect the song to do as well as it did. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, the London-born Simmons confessed the single’s success “totally surpassed anything” the band ever imagined.
“Not at all,” Simmons said when asked if he and the rest of the band expected the fan favorite hit to do as well as it did. “I don’t think anyone did really. It totally surpassed anything we’d ever thought. Just being at the top for however long it’s been at the top for and breaking records… it’s been crazy.”
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The 31-year-old shared how it was “incredible” to have “done that in the first days” of the song’s release and have it reach the the extents that it has, eventually hitting 50 weeks at no. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic song chart, “It’s just incredible, it’s just so nice,” he added.
What fans may not know is that the band’s lead singer Dan Smith actually wrote the song and didn’t intend to have Bastille be the voice of it. It was simply an unexpected decision to do so.
“Dan does the lyrics, he’s the songwriter,” Simmons said. “[But] the song wasn’t ever written for Bastille really, Dan had written it for someone else. It wasn’t based on any particular event in his life, but obviously people go through breakups all the time, and it’s awful and it’s something that kind of everyone can relate to.”
It was then that they gave the breakup track to Marshmallo, who produced it. However, Simmons says the context and subject matter of the track was a “huge part” of why it took off on the charts.
“It’s so relatable, and it deals with something that a lot of people had to go through or deal with or be the ones to have missed that,” he said. “It really tugs on the heartstrings there.”
Despite the fact that the song has a great storyline and tune, Simmons says it just wasn’t a “fully Bastile song” before they handed it off to the famed producer. However, when they finally got it picked up, he credits “the team” the guys work with as to why they decided to add their voice to the lyrics.
After launching with hits like “Happier” and “Pompeii,” the popular band was recently able to scale it back with their concert at Sony Hall after partnering with Mastercard and JetBlue in New York City to provide truly Priceless experiences to cardholders.
“This partnership is amazing! It’s basically allowed us to kind of revisit a size venue that we rarely get to revisit anymore. It’s a really cool new venue. 500 capacity, Sony Hall. So, for instance, the last time we were in New York, we played at Hulu Theater. I was just going around in like Radio City and the Barclays Center, so it’s just nice to kind of visit a new little club.”
“Kind of that really intimate vibe that we kind of haven’t really played for a while, especially in New York, so it’s allowed that to happen, which is amazing” Simmons concluded.
For more information on Bastille, visit their website here.
