KUALA LUMPUR: Local pop rock band Paperplane Pursuit is making heads turn both at home and abroad. Its single Feel Good took the 30th spot on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 Indicator Chart, beating superstars like Maroon 5 and Adam Lambert.
Feel Good is composed by the band and lyrics by John Oommen, otherwise known as John O. Feel Good peaked at No. 40 on the chart, recently.
“I initially wrote the song as a message of encouragement for someone I care. She’s an amazing person but struggles with insecurities,” Oommen, 31, told the NST toady.
Eventually, the song became an anthem for anyone who feels insignificant and doesn’t see their worth.
“There’s a deeper meaning to the song than what most people think,” he added.
On the tune’s success, Oommen said the band learnt to be strategic about “every step we take and try to maximise the impact”.
“As a band that is self-produced, self-funded and self-managed, we don’t have the luxury of a huge team behind us, or bottomless resources. We worked very hard from day one and we never took things for granted,” he added.
Paperplane Pursuit also owed part of its success to its fans dubbed Paperazzi. “As soon as we broke the news that we’re on Billboard, they went crazy and have never stopped requesting for the song to be played on the radio,” he said.
“We were cautiously optimistic about the strength of the song, but when you’re up against the biggest names in the music industry, there are no guarantees,” he added.
Currently working on new materials for its upcoming third studio album, Paperplane Pursuit, which also comprises Dru Yap, 31, (on drums) and Isaac Ravi, 27, (on guitars) has plans for a huge celebration with fans who have been supporting its music over the years. “But it will not be until 2016 though,” he said, without revealing further.
In the meantime, the members are celebrating its success by sharing their happiness and interacting with fans via the social media.
Last month, the band released another single, Who’s Gonna Stop Me?!, and has 42k views on their official YouTube channel. “We’ve got much bigger plans for Who’s Gonna Stop Me?!, and we’re in the midst of putting it all together with our partners at Asia International Records (A.I.R), who we've been working with on our US campaign for Feel Good. Everything that we’ve accomplished with Feel Good is just the beginning,” he said.
Any plans to relocate to the US? “That might be a decision we’ll have to make, eventually,” he said. He then added, “the next on our list is a US tour and that will involve us relocating there for a certain period of time. Beyond that, only time will tell.”
Formed in 2009, the Kuala Lumpur-based band has come out with two studio albums, Malaysia 2.0 (2011) and Higher (2014).
Since its debut, the band has enjoyed tremendous success at home where its singles (from Higher), What If, Beat Of Your Love, Feel Good and Who’s Gonna Stop Me, have all peaked at No. 1 on Hitz FM’s Met 10 chart.