With how many people are on the internet now, new artists are not common. From apps like Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. You can find new artists to listen to pretty much anywhere and with apps like TikTok it makes finding them easier now than ever. Artists don’t even need to pay for marketing anymore due to being able to show off their songs online now in a short amount of time. However, with how many artists there are and how many are doing this it’s hard to really find anyone who stands out. With that fast pace format, listeners’ attention spans are shorter than ever and if you don’t have star quality right off the bat people won’t listen. But, it can still be achieved and we know that because of Malcolm Todd.
Malcolm Todd was born on September 13, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. Early on, Malcolm would play music for people at parties while still in high school. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic when Malcolm started writing his own music for himself. His first collection of songs wasn’t released until May 15, 2022, the EP being titled Demos Before the Prom. During this time, Malcolm was still in high school so it wasn’t necessarily a career he was looking at too much. But even then he wanted to promote his music, Malcolm was able to do that with the help of TikTok and claim his songs had been unreleased songs from the artist Steve Lacy. This got Malcolm a good amount of attention so on March 24, 2023 he released an album titled Shower Shoes. His love for music continued when he graduated high school and went to the University of Oregon. In university, Malcolm studied music production. During that time in 2023, a single titled “Art House” he produced and wrote went viral on TikTok. The success for the song then followed his next single that same year titled “Roomates”. Due to “Roomates” success, an executive at Columbia Records found him and just like he was signed to the label. Malcolm’s first real mixtape was released under Columbia on April 5th , 2024 titled Sweet Boy. Today, the success for Malcolm has only continued. On April 4th, 2o25, Malcolm released his first self-titled album. This album’s leading single, “Chest Pain (I Love)” is what really put Malcolm into stardom however. The single reached the Billboard Hot 100 being his first entry on the charts as well as the album on the Billboard 200. This single really got its recognition from TikTok that eventually led it to be his biggest hit. Which has led him to headlining his own tours like the Sweet Boy Tour in 2o24 and The Wholesome Rockstar Tour this year. Just last month he performed in his biggest show being at Camp Flog Gnaw.
No matter what way you look at it, the old ways of promoting are done. Social media is how things will get its notoriety. However, sometimes it can really be used for greatness. Malcolm’s success won’t die down anytime soon and it’s truly insane just how a couple posts have altered his life for the best.
