“EVERYBODY NEEDS A SIDEPIECE”
Here is what the duo of Nitti Gritti and Party Favor, better known as SIDEPIECE by the EDM scene, always says; this one’s kind of a recent project, which has already taken radios, digital platforms and listeners’ hearts – passionate and non – all around the world. It’s been possible thanks to the collaboration with Diplo, entitled “On My Mind”, which today counts more than 70 million streams on Spotify, has taken the first position on Beatport for almost 20 weeks and last but not least, enjoys a Grammy nomination, also thanks to the Italian Luca Pretolesi, who mastered the track.
…but who are SIDEPIECE?
And there we go: Ricky Mears and Dylan Ragland, better known with their stage names Nitti Gritti and Party Favor, are the two brains – and the four arms – behind this musical innovation, which has got almost 6 million monthly listeners on Spotify so far.
The first one, born in 1994, has been supported for some time by important producers such as Jauz, NGHTMRE, Dillon Francis and DJ Snake; he has remixed important tracks like “GUD VIBRATIONS” by NGHTMRE & SLANDER, but it’s his song “Crack”, released on Tiesto’s label Musical Freedom, to be recognized as the 7th most played track during Ultra Miami. However, the other “side” has more than 30 million streams on Spotify and 27 million ones on Soundcloud, and his style makes him one of the pioneers of the festival trap genre, which has not gone unnoticed among fans. His last track “Oh Nah Yeah” in collaboration with CHAII, has reached 238 thousand streams in a bunch of days. Just saying.
Both, despite having grown from two completely different roots and dealing singularly with totally different genres, are trying hard to carry on the SIDEPIECE project, after their debut in 2019 with “Wanna See You”, published on In Rotation, and the unexpected success during the 2020’s pandemic.
A successful releases schedule in the last 2 years
Talking about productions, it’s been only a matter of time before we could see the more and more crescent hotshot named SIDEPIECE. In fact in 2020 they released a bunch of successful releases. We have seen an official remix of theirs labelled Defected Records, with John Summit’s “Deep End” and its 37.697.447 total streams.
Unsatisfied by the huge success they got, they decided to enrich their repertoire with a track, which has been released on FFRR, entitled “Together”; with its 11.822.364 streams, it’s characterized by the unmistakable duo’s style: the hypnotic vocals are combined with a catchy bass line which leaves the listener enchanted since the first play. It’s so powerful that GUZ, which released on the “Sink Or Swim” label together with producers like Ferreck Dawn, decided to make an official remix, with its good results; 340.932 total streams. Not enough for now to reach the original.
This success lead them to aspire even higher, more precisely on Solotoko, with their “Falling For You”, its 422.658 streams. But it’s not over for 2020 yet: it goes from “Temptation”, released on Higher Ground and reaching almost 5 million streams, to the EDC’S Virtual Rave-A-Thon live-streaming for Insomniac on May 17th. In only 35 minutes, the American duo has been able to play their best cards, play some IDs and get more than 800 thousand views on Insomniac’s YouTube channel.
2021, instead, has been inaugurated with “Acrobatic”, signed Insomniac Records; despite the 3.454.551 streams on Spotify, SIDEPIECE decided to make the game more interesting, announcing a remix contest – still ongoing today. What do they have reserved for us? We don’t know actually, but expectations are high at the moment; we do know, though, that they took a good decision with creating this wave of innovation and freshness. We really needed it.
Last but not least: the new Calvin Harris‘ “By Your Side” remix by SIDEPIECE dropped this week it’s ready to shake the dance floors after the original it’ll be on repeat on the radios along this summer.
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I am 22 and graduating in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, I speak 4 languages and I am very passionate about music, concerts and festivals. After graduation, I’d like to aim for a profession in the music industry and I am a proud dreamer but down to earth.
