There are may talented musicians. From all around the world. This pair, Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn collectively known as Pomplamoose somehow have risen to the top of my “A” list. The real question is why have this dynamic duo risen in popularity faster than other talented musicians? Well, from what I can tell, it boils down mainly to the power of video.
You can tell they are having fun. You can tell they are humble and happy. The pure emotional energy combined with the authenticity of their playfulness resonates with their fans. Sure, they aren’t as polished as a $50,000 music video, but these two engage the audience as *real*, a beautiful voice and a brilliant goofball musician. After each song, they chat with you, even dragging in their pet cat, or sister who just made soap to discuss news of their world with you.
Both Jack and Nataly have solo careers, but their respective videos don’t capture that raw playfulness as they do when they are Pomplamoose. Jack comes across much darker, harsher, yet brilliant while Nataly more aloof and set back from the audience. Quite different from the intimate musical videosongs of Pomplamoose. Perhaps it is the innate need of joy in our lives that resonates with the audience and is delivered with harmony and catchy chords that makes it all so easy to ingest with eyes and ears.
When they put out their Do Not Push video, which showed a fictional argument, there was quite a visceral reaction from their fanbase. Some member wrote “Jack and Nataly do not fight!” and others were quite upset that the duo had crossed a line and violated an unspoken rule that Pomplamoose are to be our source of happiness and not confrontational. That video served as a watershed moment to me and I think to Pomplamoose. They understood more about their audience than any other they had done, as they quickly made a sequel video that was happy and playful. They even called in fans to come in as extras for the filming.
Lauren O’Connell, who teams up with Nataly as ‘My Terrible Friend’ also has a wonderful voice and clear talent. But she doesn’t engage the camera like Pomplamoose or My Terrible friend. She often doesn’t even smile for the camera. Like most musicians she mostly chooses to ignore the camera forget that the camera is actually thousands of people watching. So therein lies the secret to the success of Pomplamoose, the duo uses the camera to bring the audience into their world and laugh and sing with them.
All I can do now, is wait till they invite me over for their next song…