“Leave Before You Love Me” by Marshmello & Jonas Brothers, Wednesday, January 26, 2022

With over a billion streams for his hits "Wolves" and "Silence" and 1.5 billion streams for his song with Bastille, "Happier," Marshmello's collaboration with the Jonas Brothers "Leave Before You Love Me" is on the path to being a mega Spotify hit, with over 271 million streams as of writing this post. In 2015, Chris Comstock began publishing remixes of songs online, gaining fame under the pseudonym Marshmello. When he performed as a DJ, he wore a white bucket shaped like the confectionary treat. In 2017, Comstock's identity was confirmed by Forbes, however, Comstock continues all public appearances with a bucket covering his head.

I'M THE TYPE TO GET NAKED. Nick and Joe Jonas each get a verse on "Leave Before You Love Me," while the eldest brother, Kevin, plays guitar and sings back up. Some of the conflict resolved over the course of the documentary film Chasing Happiness deals with Kevin feeling slighted by his younger brothers stealing the spotlight. In 2019, the brothers released their first album in six years. Nick had a very successful solo career and Joe eventually found success fronting a new band, DNCE. But with Happiness Begins the Jonas Brothers, embarked on a new, grown up version of the former Disney Channel band. The brothers continued in this direction with the sexy single "What a Man Gotta Do," featuring Nick Jonas imitating Tom Cruise's famous Risky Business scene. "Leave Before You Love" me was released last year and reached #19 on the Hot 100. The song interpolates Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You," though many listeners have pointed out the similarity to Daft Punk's "Instant Crush" and Wham!'s "Last Christmas," and you can find mashups of the Jonas Brother/Marshmello song with both of these songs. Personally, I found myself filling in "Leave" with parts of "Last Christmas" as I hummed the song all day. 

IT'S MESSING WITH MY HEAD HOW I MESS WITH YOUR HEART. I can't help but hear Rick Beato yelling at me for this song. How can you follow up Adele's organic vocals the spare instrumental parts with a DJ? In fact, I'm trying to figure out what the hell a DJ does? Yes, I get why raves are a thing. I get that DJs play songs that people want to hear and keep the vibe coming, but why do they headline at major festivals. Last year I talked about David Guetta and Alan Walker, even watching a lengthy set of the latter's to see what he does during a show. And moreover, how can Marshmallo perform his duties underneath a bucket? Is that the point? Please forgive my ignorance. I couldn't put myself through watching an entire set of Marshmello's mostly hip hop music during his set at 2021's Lollapalooza, watching today's song and "Happier" and parts of other songs. With some instructions to the audience muffled by the bucket, similar to how Alan Walker's voice is muffled by the mask he always wears, to put up their phones, or to sing certain lines or to just up and down and flipping a few switches on the equipment that's not really shown, that's the only glimpse we get of what a DJ does. At least in the music video and the Billboard Awards live performance of today's song Marshmello is playing a keyboard. I'm not writing this to spark controversy. I'm genuinely confused. 

Lyric Video:
Extended version:
Billboard Music Awards performance

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