Glass Animals' "curve ball" hit breaks 'Billboard' record for longest climb to the top five

Pooneh Ghana

It first entered the Billboard Hot 100 in January of 2021. Now, after a record-breaking 51 weeks, Glass Animals' "Heat Waves" has finally cracked the top five on the Billboard Hot 100. The British band's frontman Dave Bayley says he's glad that such an unusual song can find a place on pop radio next to the latest hits by Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber and The Weeknd.

"I love pop music. I'm a huge fan of pop music," he tells ABC Audio. "My favorite thing is when I hear a pop song on the radio, but it's got like a twist, like, almost shouldn't be there...so it's amazing to see ['Heat Waves'] in that space because...like, relative to some of the songs you hear in those spaces, it is definitely, maybe, a little bit of a curve ball."

"It's got some, like quite jazzy, weird chords in there. It's got quite a strange structure," he laughs. "I'm glad it sits with those songs, though -- it's cool!"

As for what the appeal is of "Heat Waves," Dave says it's one of those songs that has upbeat sounding music married with sad lyrics.

"It's about missing somebody, but it's about realizing that that's O.K, and it's actually quite therapeutic to let yourself miss somebody, and it's probably really, really healthy," he explains. "It's about about, like, not repressing that."

"I think a lot of the time people are told -- in England, at least -- 'Have a stiff upper lip' and that kind of garbage," he laughs. "But this song is about embracing the missing...and kind of enjoying that feeling a little bit."

The success of "Heat Waves" has earned Glass Animals multiple award nominations, including a Grammy nod for Best New Artist.  They'll resume their Dreamland tour March 4 in Phoenix, AZ.

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 6:00AM by Andrea Dresdale Permalink