''Vulnerabilia'' is the debut EP by American singer

Chaz Cardigan Chaz Eugene McKinney (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Chaz Cardigan, is an American singer and alternative rock artist based in Nashville, Tennessee, who describes his musical style as "pop songs with messy guitars." He is bes ...

. It was released on February 13, 2020 through

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

and Loud Robot (a subsidiary of J. J. Abrams's

Bad Robot Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999, and led by Katie McGrath and J. J. Abrams as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series '' Alia ...

production company).

Background

Cardigan self-released a series of singles throughout 2018 that continually were placed on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

's New Music Friday editorial playlist. Within an 8-month span these songs accumulated 1 million streams. A quick rise in streaming numbers and a series of sold-out hometown shows attracted the attention of several record labels. On the writing of ''Vulnerabilia'', he's said:

"It’s wild, actually: as a Pop music scene started forming in Nashville, every writer in town that didn’t work on country music sort of got thrown under that umbrella. My background is more rock and indie stuff, and I was suddenly working in rooms with electronic producers, which was a really cool creative period — I got some really cool songs from that year and I was just excited to put them out even if they were a little more electronic-sounding than I was really focusing on. So everything that felt a little more immediate I put out as a single, and everything that felt more like a body of work I kept and worked on together. Through ’18 I would test songs out by slipping them in and out of set lists at my shows, and the EP became whatever resonated the most on stage."

He's commented that the title was imagined after a silent retreat at a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, and that it means "a collection of personal moments". Like his previous work, Cardigan self-produced and played every instrument on the EP. It was completed before Cardigan was signed to Capitol Records, and at one point was planned as an independent release. The EP was preceded by the lead single "Not OK!", Cardigan's first song to receive radio play. Prior to the

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, the EP was announced alongside tour dates with Cardigan's label mate

Barns Courtney Barnaby George "Barns" Courtney (born 17 November 1990) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Early life Courtney was born in England then moved with his family to Seattle, Washington when he was 4. He returned to the United Kingd ...

Track listing

Personnel

* Chaz Cardigan - production, all instruments * Jamie Lidell - additional production, engineering * Jon Kaplan - mixing

References

{{reflist Capitol Records EPs EPs by American artists Indie rock EPs 2020 debut EPs