glaive

Combining Midwestern emo, trap, pop, and EDM, glaive’s songs wrap themes of heartache and depression in catchy sounds. While the upbeat melodies and genre fluidity of 2020′s Cypress Grove and 2021′s All Dogs Go to Heaven initially caused listeners to lump him in with the hyperpop scene, his music sidesteps that movement’s irony in favor of heart-on-sleeve confessions. As he collaborated with ericdoa on 2021′s Then I'll Be Happy and Machine Gun Kelly on 2022′s “More Than Life,” glaive honed his style, and 2023′s debut album I Care So Much That I Don’t Care at All paired his angst with gleaming production and earworm choruses.
Residing in a small town in North Carolina, glaive connected with friends through Discord and became a member of the slowsilver03 collective, along with musicians such as osquinn and kurtains. He started releasing music in early 2020, including solo singles like “Life Is Pain,” “Sick,” and “Clover,” as well as making guest appearances on tracks by artists such as ericdoa and Savage Ga$p. After gaining an online following, glaive signed to Interscope when he was still a sophomore in high school and released his debut EP, Cypress Grove, that November.
Another barrage of singles appeared in 2021, including the Aldn collaboration “What Was the Last Thing U Said,” Renforshort’s “Fall Apart,” which appeared on her Off Saint Dominique EP, and “Think You Right,” a team-up with Whethan and ericdoa that reached number 47 on the U.S. Dance/Electronic Songs chart. On his own, glaive issued “Detest Me” and “I Wanna Slam My Head Against the Wall,” both of which featured on his second EP, August 2021′s All Dogs Go to Heaven. That October, he released Then I'll Be Happy with ericdoa. They supported the EP with a North American tour that also featured Aldn, Midwxst, and Underscores. January 2022 saw the release of Old Dog, New Tricks, a deluxe version of All Dogs Go to Heaven that featured four bonus tracks, including the single “Prick.” After completing his first headlining tour, glaive guested on Machine Gun Kelly’s “More Than Life,” which was a Top 20 hit in New Zealand and appeared on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart in the U.S. That June, he released “Minnesota Is a Place That Exists” and performed more shows on his own and opening for the Kid Laroi. glaive rounded out the year with another single, “Three Wheels and It Still Drives!” and a tour with ericdoa.
In July 2023, glaive released his first full-length, I Care So Much That I Don’t Care at All. Co-produced with Jeff Hazin and Ralph Castelli, the album found him emphasizing the pop and emo influences in his music and taking a more reflective point of view in his lyrics. ~ Paul Simpson & Heather Phares