Jonathan Brenner Channels Billy Joel With New Single, ‘Instagram Success’

Jonathan Brenner’s new single, ‘Instagram Success’ is a little bit kitschy and a whole lot of fun, as the Atlanta singer songwriter uses every descriptive cliche in the book to describe life as a hit on the ‘gram.

Channelling 70s Billy Joel (think anything from ‘The Stranger’ album), blended with modern production values and themes, and you’ve pretty much summed up ‘Instagram Success’. Brenner describes his sound as “somewhere between New York and Nashville”, and we can certainly vibe with that. Citing among his influences the likes of Hank Williams, Sr., Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Elton John, James Taylor, Cole Porter, Tom Lehrer, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and of course, Billy Joel, Brenner has managed to take something from everyone and blend it into a style of his very own.

‘Instagram Success’, out this Friday, March 1, is the title song from Bremmer’s album of the same name, which is set for release on the 3rd of May. The track, which comes with a fab music video, takes a jazzy look at the narcissistic culture we live in, where everyone is a star of their own reality show on social media. ‘Instagram Success’was recorded an engineered by Billy Gewin at Cave Cricket Studio in Tucker, Georgia. While Jonathan wrote the music and lyrics, Billy contributed the instrumental bridge, as well as the stonking horn arrangement.

It’s not Jonathan’s first collaboration with Billy Gewin; Bremmer’s debut album was recorded 2016 with Billy at Cave Cricket Studio. From those first days the pair discovered they shared similar musical sensibilities, and it’s not looking like they’re going to part ways anytime soon.

The music video for ‘Instagram Success’ is somewhat tongue in cheek, with Brenner shown playing his guitar on what appears to be an Instagram livestream, with endless “likes” and comments streaming by. Bremmer accompanies himself on the guitar, while Gewin’s horns provide a strong – and at times pure jazz – backing. The “livestream” footage is interspersed with scenes of Brenner playing his guitar in other situations, such as standing in a warehouse, or in front of a projected backdrop of a tropical paradise. It’s fun, witty, and all round good listening.

Check out the video for ‘Instagram Success’ below, and find out more about Jonathan Brenner and his music online on his official website, Twitter, Facebook, and of course, Instagram.

Instagram Success

About the author

Lisa has been writing for over 20 years, starting as the entertainment editor on her university newspaper. Since then she's written for Popwrapped, Maximum Pop, Celebmix, and ListenOnRepeat.

Lisa loves all good music, with particular fondness for Jedward and David Bowie. She's interviewed Edward Grimes (Jedward), Kevin Godley, Trevor Horn, Paul Young, Peter Cox (Go West), Brendan B Brown (Wheatus), Bruce Foxton (The Jam), among many many more. Lisa is also available for freelance writing - please email lisa@essentiallypop.com