Vance Joy: The One-Hit Wonder of Australia’s Indie Scene
What do they put in the water down under that produces all these one-hit wonders?!?
Following in the footsteps of Men At Work (Down Under), Jet (Are You Gonna Be My Girl), and John Paul Young (Love Is In The Air), Vance Joy found huge success with his breakout tune Riptide.
Perhaps it’s down to Riptide being developed over several years. Initially shelved, then brought back and fused with a later tune he was working on, it feels significantly more mature and fully formed than the rest of his catalogue.
It has that same simplistic, unapologetic minimalism shared with Down Under, Love Is In The Air, and Are You Gonna Be My Girl. There’s nothing in any of these tunes that doesn’t need to be there – they all feel timeless, as if they’ve always existed.
None of them feel forced.
The question is, why can’t any of these artists – Vance Joy included – do it again? We may never get an answer to that, but perhaps if you study how these tunes are constructed, you might work out how to write one yourself.
One obvious ingredient in a great hit seems to be: don’t include too many ideas. Keep it defined. Kind of like Australia itself – when you think of it, a few strong images come to mind. Kangaroos, Aboriginal culture, the Outback, AC/DC – iconic and unmistakable.
Defined. Unique. Obvious.
Check the playlist above – I’ve included several Vance Joy tunes, including a live set. Compare them all, especially the crowd’s reaction to Riptide at the end versus the rest of the show.
If you can pinpoint what makes Riptide an undeniable hit while the others fall short, maybe you’ll figure out how to write one yourself.
Vance Joy Tunes | Related Pages
Riptide | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Riptide by Vance Joy using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Am G | C |
I was scared of dentists and the dark…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: Riptide (Vance Joy) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Vance Joy on the web
