DC ExtraTime Double Shot: Meet Tai Verdes, and Bryce & A Busch Girl

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

As this lost summer of sorts rages on, yesterday saw our lives feel full once again thanks to the 10th anniversary of the forming of One Direction, followed by Taylor Swift releasing a new surprise album. And it's with those two items in mind that we have two musical stories for the price of one to start off your summer's weekend...

Last Friday, global pop star Chris Brown dropped a new music video that saw him do something that's inconceivable in our new reality, but something we're sure we're gonna do once we finally socially distance ourselves from COVID: throw a house party. Those who also follow our primary beat of MTV Reality shows may have spotted a familiar face asking Chris and Young Thug to join her on her next journey: Nurys Mateo of Are You The One? and Ex On The Beach. But as it turns out, she isn't the only alum of the Season 6 cast to make waves this summer (new dad Malcolm and dad-to-be Anthony included).

In the final two weeks that determined the group's fate, one of the key turning points that kick-started their historic comeback from being down to one light in two weeks to lighting all eleven at season's end to fly out of New Orleans $1 million richer was what happened in their ninth week. After sitting together for most of those excruciating eight weeks as everyone was focused on various romances in that house, Bostonian Nicole Spiller and Los Angeles basketballer Tyler Colon were sent into the Truth Booth, and they emerged as what turned out to be the season's only Perfect Match.

But perhaps, Ty saved his biggest moments of his AYTO experience for when he got to take out of his suitcase a ukulele to join the Oakland rapper who always wears that baseball cap (and who once got to meet up with a guy named Stephen Curry), Ethan Cohen aka "Emoney," to perform some music. They first collaborated on a song that they fittingly called "The Perfect Match Song" which they then performed at the end of the end-of-season reunion, followed by recording some songs together including "Happy Place."

It's the successes of his collaborations with Emoney that gave Ty reason to think to himself that music might be the next thing on his docket post-MTV, and after getting to talk to a slew of his fellow alums of the Truth Booth for the love-focused version of the Challenge Mania podcasts in a series of now-deleted interview podcasts. And while our focus was on other matters other than music, he dipped his toes into the music world by changing his name and identity to Taj Verdes, and releasing his first single, "Stuck in the Middle."

By now, you have heard of that lovable international phenomenon TikTok, where everyone from the aforementioned Nurys & her ride-or-die Diandra Delgado to even the niece of yours truly have passed this time in lockdown in partaking in all those viral dance crazes. Tai looked to TikTok as a way to increase his standing as a newfound musician, something that he told Rolling Stone, "If you're an artist and you're not on TikTok, you don't want it bad enough. TikTok is like buying lottery tickets. I just played a bunch of lottery tickets."

IG @TaiVerdes

Over the 4th of July holiday weekend, "Stuck in the Middle" went all the way to the top spot of the Viral 50 chart on music app Spotify, and where after two million streams of it Tai decided to mark this occasion by posting a TikTok thank you to everyone from, of all places, a hometown Verizon Wireless store where he still works despite his second time in the fame spotlight three years after AYTO. And this comes after auditions to try & make American Idol and The Voice came away without an invitation, many hours of researching YouTube late nights for musical inspiration and sitting alone in his car to do vocal exercises -- proving that the hustle can pay off.

The same man who manages the singer who made headlines for his cross-country walk across America (and who also met up with fellow AYTO'er Brandon of Season 2), Ryan Chisholm, can cite TikTok and Tai's way of telling stories there rather than dance as one of the reasons for the rapid success of "Stuck in the Middle." The singer's follower count on the app has increased several-fold to over 100,000 to go along with an increasing Instagram following thanks to his debut single, and not suprisingly his fellow MTV alumni have taken notice with Emoney leading the charge, "You're making history bro!" -- and it only adds to the aura of the legendary "Sexy Season 6" crew.

For more on Tai and "Stuck in the Middle," check out the newly-posted feature in Rolling Stone.

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Someone who also has earned his dues to become a rapid-growing star in the music world is 32-year-old Bryce Vine, who may have been born in New York but who has spent the majority of his life in L.A., where his mom was part of daytime soap Passions. But later, her son would find himself in the spotlight himself when a friend of theirs suggested that he try out for The Glee Project, an Oxygen show produced by the creators of Glee. He made it to the final twelve but was the first one to be eliminated... but that experience was an early glimpse into the musical future for Bryce.

In 2014, Bryce released his first EP album Lazy Fair with two under-the-radar online hits, but it was in 2017 that he began to make waves: a single bearing the name of the famed actress Drew Barrymore peaked inside the top half of the Billboard 100. A year ago this weekend, Vine dropped his debut album Carnival, and its most successful single was an ode to where he calls home, "La La Land" with YG, also peaking inside the singles chart.

One person who's become a fan of Bryce is a member of the most-famous family in the entire world -- of breweries and beer. Earlier this year, MTV took a trip to St. Louis for its first reality series based in the Midwest in Busch Family Brewed, and one of the seven children who parents Billy & Christi watch over at their large ranch is Maddie, described as "The Wise One" despite being the second-youngest of the family. Maddie was invited on-stage to dance with Bryce at an intimate, socially-distanced small concert and she shared on Instgram afterwards, "2020s halftime show was epic 💃 thank you @brycevine for an amazing night! Till next time ✌️"

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2020s halftime show was epic 💃 thank you @brycevine for an amazing night! Till next time ✌️

A post shared by Maddie Busch (@maddiebusch1) on Jul 17, 2020 at 10:22am PDT

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