Among all of the huge announcements to drop during Apple’s WWDC 2015 — like iOS 9 and the new OS X El Capitan — the biggest takeaway was Apple Music. With industry titans like Drake, Jimmy Iovine, and The Weeknd publicly throwing their support behind the newest kid on the streaming block, there was also a unknown oddly featured during the presentation.
On the new Apple Music platform a track called “My Life” was played by Loren Kramar, who got a shoutout as an artist that is poised for big things. Despite being a virtual unknown without any digital footprint (Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Bandcamp), he still managed to be featured at one of the most visible music events of the year. While much of Twitter jokes that he’s an “industry plant,” there isn’t a lot to go on regarding how he was discovered.
So who is Loren Kramar? Here’s what we know. He’s a 27-year-old artist out of New York, but he wasn’t always a musician. He’s probably most easily found as a visual artist. He gave an interview to Capital New York in 2012 about his online publication Megazine, a space he co-founded to feature innovative and new artists. But the publication hasn’t posted anything in two years, and ironically, their last tweet was about Android:
Madonna uses an Android phone
— DID YOU KNOW? (@MegaMaxims) March 1, 2013
He was also stopped by Time Out New York before that in 2008 in their Street Fashion blog, where he spoke about his singing gig at a Piano bar:
What do you sing? Covers—Celine Dion, the Bee Gees…
Not ironically? No way. I think I have a sense of humor and it comes through in the songs that I’m singing, but I wouldn’t say it’s an ironic performance.
Doesn’t singing cheese-ball songs ever make you feel embarrassed? Oh no, I’m never embarrassed by the songs I pick, ever. I would have been embarrassed had I been in a costume. Part of the charm is coming off as humble, whether or not I am. And letting that come through wearing blue jeans and boots and no shirt, as opposed to—
A sequined unitard? Exactly. Or something with sequins. We’ll let that come in a few years.
Other than that, Loren Kramar is pretty much a ghost, especially when it comes to finding his music. He’s been credited for co-writing a song on Inc’s excellent 2013 alt R&B album No World. The spelling of his last name differs on that credit, but since no one exists with the alternate spelling, it’s most likely him.
So how did Apple execs find and handpick this guy that no one has ever heard of? We haven’t the slightest clue, but as more information on the unsigned Loren Kramar gets hyped up, just remember to #StayWoke. Or, you know, we could also be normal people and not be jealous of his meteoric rise to success. Either or.
