A Country Music singer from Louisiana, best known for playing everything.
Hayes began making TV appearances as young as age four, also winning competitions for his accordion playing. After moving to Nashville, he co-wrote a song for Rascal Flatts and signed with Atlantic Records. His debut single "Storm Warning" debuted in 2011, making #14 on the country charts, but it was "Wanted" that locked him in as a hitmaker. The song spent several weeks at #1 on the country charts, also receiving mass pop airplay and singles sales close to 3 million. Both songs appear on his self-titled debut, on which he played literally every instrument (more than 20). "Somebody's Heartbreak" became his second #1 hit, followed by "I Want Crazy", which was added to a 2013 rerelease of the Atlantic album. The re-release also produced his fifth single, "Everybody's Got Somebody but Me", a duet with Jason Mraz.
Hayes's second Atlantic album was launched in 2014 with "Invisible" and "Tattoo" as the singles, but it performed poorly. His next release, "21", hit the airwaves in summer 2015.
Tropes present:
- The Bully: "Invisible" is a message of inspiration to victims of these.
- Child Popstar: Although his mainstream career didn't begin until he was 20, he had a few notable gigs dating back to age four.
- Early-Bird Cameo: As mentioned above, he wrote a Rascal Flatts song before his major-label debut.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Early on, he was mainly a Cajun musician. His debut single "Storm Warning" has a country-rock edge, but everything since has been lightweight teen-friendly country-pop.
- Genre Shift: From Cajun music to country-pop.
- Irony: "21" debuted at #21 on the Country Airplay charts due to heavy first-week airplay on iHeartMedia-owned stations. The song floundered on the charts after that, eventually rebounding to a peak position... of #21.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Everybody's Got Somebody but Me" is only 2:39.
- Rearrange the Song: "Everybody's Got Somebody but Me" was originally a solo song, but he re-recorded it as a duet with Jason Mraz.
- Self-Backing Vocalist: As mentioned, he played all of his own instruments and sang all the backing vocals on his first album.
