StʌrunneR

• Genre: Alternative rock · indie rock · indie pop · pop rock

Love Songs Drug Songs - EP 2013

The Reason - EP 2014

VHS 2.0 2016

ORION 2019

Belong EP 2020

The Beautiful Liar 2021

Townie 2024

Baidu

X Ambassadors是一支来自纽约伊萨卡的另类摇滚乐队，于2009年开始音乐活动。当红的独立摇滚乐队Imagine Dragons在电台听到他们的歌曲《Unconsolable》的不插电版后，即刻让Alex Da Kid签下了他们，主唱Dan Roynolds还为他们写了一首《Stranger》。
X Ambassadors2015年的最新单曲《Renegades》已打入Billboard Hot 100，成为了他们迄今为止最受欢迎的作品。

豆瓣

X Ambassadors是一支来自纽约州中心小镇Ithaca的另类摇滚乐队，成立于2010年并于最近两年开始活跃，由主唱Sam Harris和他的兄弟Casey Harris（键盘）以及他们的童年伙伴Noah Feldshuh（吉他）在大学期间组建，后来他们搬至纽约市，在那里遇到鼓手Adam Levin。这支布鲁克林（Brooklyn-based）的另类摇滚合奏乐队制作出充满激情、黑暗和文化韵味的音乐，融合了音响效果和电子声响。部落鼓和电子音乐的融合敲击出情绪化的、真诚且富有类型糅合的和弦，极具穿透力的声音能够激活听众的听觉，因为他们与Imagine Dragons相似的声音风格和音乐技巧，Dan Reynolds和音乐制作人Alex Da Kid关注到他们并与之签约。2013年，乐队发行首支EP《Love Songs Drug Songs》（推荐），其中《Stranger》是与拉斯维加斯（Las Vegas-based）的另类摇滚乐队Imagine Dragons主唱Dan Reynolds合作。为了推广这张EP，乐队参与红极一时的Imagine Dragons的全美巡演。2014年，这支乐队继续发行第二张唱片EP《The Reason》，在这次推广期间，乐队支持了Panic! at The Disco和Imagine Dragons各自的巡演。

X Ambassadors与英国歌手兼作曲家Jamie N Commons合作的《Jungle》，被选为Beats被苹果公司收购后的首支世界杯广告《The Game Before The Game》。2013年说唱歌手Eminem发行的专辑《The Marshall Mathers LP 2》中的《Wicked Ways》，有X Ambassadors献唱。另外，《Comfortable》是与电子乐二人组The Knocks合作的歌曲。《Unconsolable》被收录到2012年电子游戏《极品飞车：最高通缉》中，《Shining》则在《极品飞车：宿敌》中亮相。

近年来，另类摇滚在北美地区甚至是世界范围内有强劲复苏的迹象，在朋克乐以及金属乐陷入逐渐疲软的境地时，另类摇滚乐队们力图通过融合电子音乐、世界音乐和说唱音乐等带来一波摇滚音乐复兴浪潮，在这个浪潮中，Foster The People、Fun.、 Imagine Dragons和英国的Bastille都是其中的佼佼者。自从Nirvana乐队带来的Grunge之风减弱，以及英国乐队愈渐抛弃本国独特的英伦摇滚风格，另类摇滚的这两大派系开始没落。令人惊喜的是，在主流音乐对摇滚音乐的商业化改变中，另类摇滚则以其独立的特性深入人心，获得乐评界的广泛好评，并逐渐引领摇滚乐的发展。

Wiki (en)

X Ambassadors (also stylized XA) are an American pop rock band from Ithaca, New York, that consists of lead vocalist Sam Harris, keyboardist Casey Harris, and drummer Adam Levin. Russ Flynn is a touring member who plays guitar and bass. Their most notable songs include “Jungle”, “Renegades”, and “Unsteady”. The band’s debut full-length album, VHS, was released on June 30, 2015. Their second album, Orion, came out on June 14, 2019. Their third album, The Beautiful Liar, was issued on September 24, 2021. Their fourth album, Townie, came out on April 5, 2024.

History

2009–12: Ambassadors and Litost

X Ambassadors began playing under the name Ambassadors, touring with artists such as LIGHTS. During this time, they self-released their debut EP, Ambassadors EP, creating a music video for its lead single, “Tropisms”, shot and directed by Rodrigo Zedillo. Shortly after, they self-released their second EP, Litost, which included the eponymous song, later to be used in the soundtrack for The Host. The band signed a record deal in 2012 with SONGS Music Publishing. They launched a Kickstarter campaign to shoot a video for the lead single, “Unconsolable”, which would be re-recorded later. The group was noticed by Imagine Dragons while frontman Dan Reynolds was sick in the hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. Reynolds heard an acoustic version of “Unconsolable” on 96X WROX-FM and asked Interscope to sign the band as soon as possible.

2013–14: Love Songs Drug Songs and The Reason

X Ambassadors released their debut major-label EP, Love Songs Drug Songs, in 2013. It included the track “Stranger”, co-written by Dan Reynolds. In promotion of the album, they toured in support of Imagine Dragons, Jimmy Eat World, and the Mowgli’s. In 2014, the band released their next EP, The Reason. Two of its tracks, “Unsteady” and “Jungle”, appeared on their full-length album VHS, released after a year. In promotion of the new EP, X Ambassadors supported Panic! at the Disco and Imagine Dragons on their respective tours.

2015–16: VHS

In March 2015, X Ambassadors released the single “Renegades”, which appeared on their debut album, “VHS”, published on June 30, 2015, and featuring collaborations with Jamie N Commons and Imagine Dragons. A special edition, titled VHS 2.0 was released on June 10, 2016, with five additional tracks and without the interludes that were included on the original version.

The band collaborated with the Knocks on the song “Comfortable”, from the duo’s debut album, 55, released in March 2016.

On June 20, 2016, X Ambassadors announced that Feldshuh would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the band to deal with personal issues.

2017: Single releases

X Ambassadors released four standalone singles in 2017: “Hoping” in March, “Torches” in April, “The Devil You Know” in June, and “Ahead of Myself” in July. They also performed at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree. The band was featured in a song by Eminem titled “Bad Husband”, from his album Revival. They also collaborated on “Home”, a song from the soundtrack for the Netflix film Bright. The track includes pop singer Bebe Rexha and rapper Machine Gun Kelly.

2018–2020: Joyful (cancelled album), Orion, and Belong

X Ambassadors released their next single, “Joyful”, on January 26, 2018, originally intended to be the title track of their second record. Pre-orders of the album became available through their website later that day, and it was slated for an April 2018 release. On February 2, 2018, the band issued another single, titled “Don’t Stay”.

On January 24, 2019, the group put out their next single, “Boom”. Three months later, on April 19, 2019, over a year after the announcement of Joyful, the band stated they had cancelled it in favor of new material for a different record, to be titled Orion, which would include the previously released track “Boom”. Vocalist Sam Harris stated that Joyful was the second iteration of their second album and that they felt like the songs on it did not represent where they were at. That same day, the band issued the song “Hey Child” as the second single off Orion. A third single, titled “Hold You Down”, was published on May 31, 2019. The album came out on June 14, 2019.

On April 19, 2019, American rapper and singer Lizzo released her album “Cuz I Love You”, which featured the tracks “Cuz I Love You”, “Jerome”, and “Heaven Help Me”, all produced by X Ambassadors. The band also wrote the song “Baptize Me” with singer Jacob Banks for the Game of Thrones compilation For the Throne.

On August 16, 2019, X Ambassadors were featured on a song titled “In Your Arms”, from Illenium’s third studio album, Ascend.

On August 23, 2019, the band released a politically charged standalone single called “Optimistic”, which centers around gun violence in the United States.

On February 7, 2020, they issued the song “Everything Sounds Like a Love Song”, promoted as the lead single from their forthcoming EP, Belong. On February 21, 2020, the band put out a single titled “Great Unknown” for the film The Call of the Wild.

Belong came out on March 6, 2020, and included the title track as well as “Everything Sounds Like a Love Song” and “Happy Home”. Sam Harris stated that it was a collection of tracks the band wrote that didn’t quite fit on their upcoming third studio album, but they loved the songs and wanted to put them out. On May 15, 2020, X Ambassadors released another single, “Zen”, with K.Flay and grandson, about the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021–2022: (Eg), The Beautiful Liar

On January 14, 2021, X Ambassadors released a single called “ultraviolet.tragedies”, a heavily rap-focused song featuring Terrell Hines. It was the first single from the collaborations project (Eg). Sam Harris said that with this project, he wanted to “give a voice to (several) incredible artists that people may not have heard yet, and really let their imagination be at the forefront of everything”. On February 7, 2021, the band released a cover of “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd.

On February 12, 2021, they released the next single from (Eg), “skip.that.party”, featuring Jensen McRae. They issued one more single, “torture”, on March 12, 2021, featuring Earl St. Clair.

On June 11, 2021, the band put out a song titled “My Own Monster”, which was also announced to be the lead single from their third studio album, The Beautiful Liar. “Okay” was released as the second single on July 30, 2021, while “Adrenaline” came out on August 13, 2021. The album was published on September 24, 2021, along with a music video for the song “Beautiful Liar”. A tour for the record began in October. The Beautiful Liar is a concept album that plays out similarly to a radio drama, expressing themes of insanity, powerlessness, self-doubt, and anxiety. It tells the story of a blind girl whose shadow comes to life. It has a trap-influenced sound, a contrast from the band’s previous releases, and tells its story over the course of sixteen tracks. Sam and Casey said that the album was influenced by radio shows that they listened to as children. About the record, Sam said, “I wanted to make an album that felt as unhinged as I did, and as the whole world felt around me. So Adam, Casey and I carved ourselves a space where we could all be as ugly, weird, funny, and f’d up as we wanted to be.”

On October 22, 2021, the band released “Water”, a song for the Blade Runner: Black Lotus soundtrack. The band was featured on “You’ll Get Yours” from Tom Morello’s album The Atlas Underground Flood, released December 3, 2021. On May 12, 2022, they issued a remix of their song “Palo Santo”, featuring ROBI.

On December 9, 2022, the band collaborated with Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies and singer Elley Duhé on “Back to You”. A music video for the song was released on January 19, 2023. A deluxe pack was released on March 10, 2023, containing remixes from various DJs.

2023–present: (Eg) season two, Townie

On May 24, 2023, X Ambassadors released “Happy People”, featuring Teddy Swims and Jac Ross, starting season two of (Eg). The next single, released on June 23, was “Friend for Life”, featuring Medium Build, followed by “Devastation”, featuring PAMÉ, released on September 22, and “Alcohol”, featuring Breland, released on October 27.

On November 17, 2023, the band put out the song “Deep End”, for the soundtrack to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

In late 2023, X Ambassadors began teasing snippets of songs from their upcoming fourth studio album, Townie. The record, published on April 5, 2024, was preceded by four singles: “No Strings”, released on January 19, 2024; “Your Town”, released on February 16, 2024; “Half-Life”, released on March 15, 2024; and “Follow the Sound of My Voice”, released on March 29, 2024.

Musical style and influences

X Ambassadors incorporate various styles into their songs, such as jazz, alternative, trap, and R&B. Sam Harris has stated that all of the members grew up listening to hip hop and R&B, but they also appreciated rock music, specifically alternative and indie groups. While writing their second album, Harris cited soulful influences including Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Otis Redding, and the Band. It has often been noted that Casey Harris being blind has been a major part of shaping the band’s music.

Philanthropy

In January 2017, Sam Harris participated in the official Women’s March on Washington after-party. He was joined by the National, Ani DiFranco, Samantha Ronson, Sleater-Kinney, and many others.

In March 2017, X Ambassadors performed a special show to benefit Planned Parenthood on International Women’s Day.

Following the benefit show, the band released the song “Hoping” on March 10. All proceeds from the song for the six months following its release were donated to the ACLU.

In June 2017, X Ambassadors announced that they would donate all the proceeds from their Mississippi Coast Coliseum Show to Unity Mississippi—an LGBT charitable organization, following the announcement that the state of Mississippi signed HB 1523 – the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act” into law.

Apple Music

For X Ambassadors, rock music isn’t so much a sound as a feeling or mood. They’re not alone in this thinking. Along with a handful of similarly minded acts including Imagine Dragons, twenty one pilots, and AWOLNATION, the New York band emerged in the early 2010s with a modern spin on rock, one retaining the raw passion traditionally associated with the genre while at the same time leaning heavily on sonic elements imported from electronic music and hip-hop. This approach is executed to perfection on “Renegades” and “Unsteady,” the multiplatinum smashes that transformed them into stars in 2015. Over meticulously produced beats that graft synthesizers and digital programming to live drums and guitars, vocalist Sam Harris unleashes tour de force performances blending hard-rock howls, an R&B falsetto, and other elements. It’s an aesthetic pushed to its very limits on X Ambassadors’ bold collaborations. They’ve worked with a slew of MCs and EDM producers, The Knocks and Illenium among them. The most notable collaboration, however, is with Lil Wayne and Wiz Khalifa on their 2016 hit “Sucker for Pain,” from Suicide Squad: The Album. For all intents and purposes, it’s a hip-hop track, and yet the cameos from X Ambassadors and the aforementioned Imagine Dragons infuse it with an attitude that is 100 percent rock. And on songs like the 2019 single “Optimistic”—a scorcher packed with angst-fueled guitar riffs and vocals—X Ambassadors leave no question that left to their own devices, they’ll crank the volume like their old-school forebears, even as they’re committed to open borders and creative interactions across genres.

Apple Music - X Ambassadors
网易云音乐 - X Ambassadors
官网