Songoftheday 11/22/23 -You say you've turned it off hid your heart upon a shelf, scared of what it might cost to take it down for someone else...

 

 

"Fall Into Me" - Emerson Drive

from the album Emerson Drive (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 4

 

Today's song comes from the Canadian country band Emerson Drive, who had cracked the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the summer of 2002 with their top ten country hit "I Should Be Sleeping".  Their follow-up would be the mid-tempo love ballad "Fall Into Me", written by Danny Orton and Jeremy Stover. The lyrics have lead singer Brad Mates trying to reassure a partner whose previous relationship damaged their psyche (been there, doing that now), saying that he understands and will be there to "fall into" for support. It's the usual Hallmark-style encouraging phrases but it's delivered smoothly and sinceerely. And for this vein how better can it get than to be produced by the master of schlocky love songs themselves, Richard Marx, who adds an adult-pop sheen to the song while still allowing the band to come through as a cohesive unit sonically. With a music video that places them as the boy-band equivalent of Rascal Flatts, and the group found themselves with another crossover hit...

"Fall Into Me" became Emerson Drive's second (and last) song to make the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in February of 2003. On their Country Songs airplay chart, the song spent 36 weeks on the list, with three of those at #3.

A third single from the eponymous debut album, "Only God (Could Stop Me Loving You)", was a modest success on country radio, reaching #23, while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #124. 

After seeing three of its members leaving, Mates, guitarist Danick Dupelle, and drummer Mike Melancon carried on with new bassist Patrick Bourque, keyboard player Dale Wallace, and David Pichette on fiddle for their second album as Emerson Drive, What If? in 2004. The set went a little higher on the charts (#107 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #12 on the Country Albums list), but even though this time the whole album was produced by Richard Marx, country radio was much cooler to the record, with the lead American single "Last One Standing" stalling at #21 on the Country Songs chart, and stopping at #89 on the Hot 100. However, back in their home in Canada, they started to gain traction, getting their first top ten on the re-introduced Canadian Country Chart at #7 with "If You Were My Girl". But during the time the album was being promoted, their label, DreamWorks, was being shut down and adsorbed into Universal, leaving them left behind. 

The band signed with startup label Midas Records, and released Countrified in 2006. The second single from the record, the ballad "Moments", became their biggest country radio hit and sole song to reach #1, while peaking at #56 on the Hot 100. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Duo/Group Country Performance with Vocals, losing to the reunited Eagles for "How Long". The Countrified album hit the Billboard 200 at #141, and #30 on the Country Albums list. The poignant music video for "Moments" had a storyline of a man who had almost attempted suicide on a bridge, which ended up being prophetic, as Bourque left the band after the album and ended his own life.

The remaining five carried on, and released Believe in 2008, which had their most recent American country radio hit with "Belongs To You" which made the country top-40 at #32. That was followed by Roll in 2012, got to #62 on the Country Albums chart in the US, and sent two singles into the Canadian country top ten. After Pichette departed the group, Emerson Drive put out an extended play single, Tilt A Whirl, in 2015. Their most recent Canadian top ten country hit was "The Road" in 2018. They continue to record, and this month released the single "Break Us".

(7/10)

I'll be off tomorrow for Thanksgiving, but I'll be back Friday with a rapper in nirvana.