Read Original Article Here

Eli Lieb’s YouTube account is a treasure trove of killer covers, but he might have outdone himself with “Good For You.” The out singer/songwriter puts a masculine spin on Selena Gomez’s new single — transforming the fragility of the original into something darker and more desperate. There are a couple of tweaks to the lyrics (skintight jeans instead of a dress, for example) and a new acoustic arrangement, which work brilliantly.

The 35-year-old first appeared on our pop radar back in 2013 with uplifting pop/rock anthem “Young Love.” Eli followed that up with a pair of equally impressive singles last year (“Zeppelin” and “Lightning In A Bottle”) and is said to be working on his second album. Hopefully, there’s room for the crooner’s Selena Gomez cover because this is really special. Watch up top.

Read Original Article Here

Allstate’s pro-LGBT commercial “Safe In My Hands”, featuring an original song from singer-songwriter Eli Lieb, was the big winner at the 2015 AMP Awards for Music and Sound — the third annual celebration of music composed and licensed for commercials held Tuesday (May 5) at New York’s City Winery.

The 90-second animated spot, created by ad agency Leo Burnett, took home the trophies for Best In Show and Best Original Song, sharing the latter win with Yessian Music’s “Showtime,” for Opel Corsa. Universal Music was the ceremony’s official label sponsor, and featured performances from Photo Finish/Republic’s Marian Hill as well as Island Records’ Gin Wigmore. A full list of winners is available here.

Also featured were AMP’s 2015 Hall of Fame Award recipients Chevrolet and Pepsi, who joined the ranks of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nike and Budweiser for their historic and culturally impactful use of music in advertising.

Accepting for Chevrolet, Steve Haener, the brand’s senior manager of experiential marketing and brand partnerships, said, “Starting with Dinah Shore in 1952 to today with Kid Rock, music has really helped connect customers for decades. Baseball, apple pie, hot dogs and Chevrolet are the heartbeat of America, and these jingles have become classics in their own right. We don’t just use music to tell our story, music uses us. Chevrolet and its vehicles are used in over 1,000 songs, from [Don McLean’s] ‘American Pie’ to [Florida Georgia Line’s] ‘Cruise’ to [Prince’s] ‘Little Red Corvette’ — as cool as they are, people don’t write songs about iPhones yet.”

Frank Cooper, chief marketing officer — global consumer engagement, said of receiving Pepsi’s award, “This is one of those moments where you should just drop the mic and go stage left.” He then reversed an old adage by stating, “We know that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but we believe that music is worth a thousand pictures…What we want to find out next is, what does an amazing song sound like a Snapchat? If I can find out as we move forward, that’s the exciting opportunity.”

Other big music category winners included butter music + sound (Pepto Bismol’s “Boy Raised By Goats”) and duotone audio group (Budweiser’s “Celebrate As One”) for Best Original Score; Walker (David McKenzie Stubbert’s arrangement of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance for LAIKA’s “The Boxtrolls”) for Outstanding Adaptation and Best Use of Music for a Film or Game Trailer; Leo Burnett USA (Sylvan Esso’s “Hey Mami” for Samsung Galaxy Gear) for Best Use of a Licensed Song; and Found Objects (IBM’s “Think Forum” for Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign.

Though the well-attended event was designed to celebrate the use of audio in commercials, Gayle Troberman, chief marketing officer at radio sponsor iHeartMedia, said to the oft-noisy and boisterous audience, “I don’t know you, but I used to heart sound. Let’s try for less sound tonight.”

Other sponsors included Grey, BBDO, Windfall Agency, J. Walter Thompson, SHOOT, APM Music and Extreme Reach / SourceCreative. Paul Greco, director of music and radio at J. Walter Thompson in New York, serves as AMP’s 2015 Advisory Board Chair, while Lyle Greenfield, founder of Bang Music and former AMP Board President, was on hand as host.

The full list of AMP Award winners is below:

Outstanding Adaptation

“Let’s Dance”

LAIKA  “The Boxtrolls”

David Bowie (Arr: McKenzie Stubbert)

Walker

Best Use of a Licensed Song

“Swarovski”

Samsung   Gear / Galaxy

Song:  “Hey Mami”  by Sylvan Esso

Leo Burnett USA

Best Sound Design (2 winners)

“Boxhead”

Gillette

Heard City

“Sing Network”

AT&T / 4G LTE

Human

Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign

“IBM Think Forum”

IBM

Found Objects

Best Use of Music for a Film or Game Trailer

“Let’s Dance”

LAIKA   The Boxtrolls

David Bowie (Arr: McKenzie Stubbert)

Walker

Most Effective Use of Music in a Non-Broadcast Medium

“Samba Of The World”

Visa

COPILOT Strategic Music+Sound

Outstanding Mix (2 winners)

“Van dam Boats”

Craftsman

Color

“Drop Science”

General Electric: GE’s Drop Science

PLUSHnyc

Most Effective Sonic Branding

“Stoli Digital Campaign”

Stolichnaya

Antfood

Most Impactful Radio Commercial

“Autocorrect”

Motel 6

The Richards Group

Best In Show

“Safe In My Hands”

Allstate

Song:  “Safe In My Hands”  Artist/Composer:  Eli Lieb

Agency:  Leo Burnett USA

Read Original Article Here

Out singer-songwriter Eli Lieb is having a pretty great year.

The LGBT-positive Allstate commercial featuring his original song “Safe in My Hands” just won two 2015 AMP Awards for Music and Sound, which honor the best of music composed and licensed for commercials. Lieb’s tune won top honors in the Best Original Song category, and the commercial itself tied for the Best In Show category.

The 90-second animated spot, created by the Leo Burnett agency, tells the allegorical story of a young man ostracized for his unusually large hand. It’s not until he meets his counterpart, another young man with a large hand, that he feels love and acceptance. It’s part of Allstate’s ongoing “Out Holding Hands” campaign.

“It’s amazing,” a thrilled Lieb tells The Advocate. “It’s my first real major award.” It means even more, he says, because the campaign is so close to his heart.

The musician, who was born in Iowa and now lives in Los Angeles, got involved with “Out Holding Hands” because he believes that despite the gains the LGBT community has made in recent years, “visibility still matters.”

Now in its third year, the campaign goes interactive by inviting folks to go to Allstate’s website and upload photos of themselves extending a hand. The photo can then be shared on social media where others, through their own photos, can join hands. The goal is to create a link, Lieb says, a chain of people around the world, showing support for one another by holding hands. Lieb’s hand was the first in the chain.

“Basically, the seed of the whole campaign is that the act of holding hands with someone you love out in public should not be a scary thing. And some people don’t have that privilege,” Lieb says.

“When you think about it, everybody marches for marriage equality, which is awesome, but people don’t really think about the little, tiny things that some people can do in their everyday lives, that for others are so difficult,” says the singer.

It’s personal for Lieb, who says he and a former boyfriend were once accosted for holding hands in New York City. It was a wake-up call.

“My sexuality is so not the main part of who I am. I am so comfortable with it and all the people in my life are, and I don’t even think about it,” says Lieb. “But then you sort of get reminded sometimes, ‘Oh, yeah, I am a minority.’ In moments like that when you want to hold somebody’s hand but you have to take a look around. Even if you’re in a safe place, sometimes you just don’t want to be looked at. Even if people are looking at you in support, it’s still looking at you in a different way. Whereas nobody eyes the straight couple walking down the street holding hands.”

This past year, Lieb enjoyed another major milestone when “Safe in My Hands” was featured on an episode of ABC Family’s The Fosters. As fun as that was for him, the singer is hardly a stranger to having millions of viewers enjoy his work. Fans flock in droves to his personal YouTube channel to see videos for songs such as the anthemic “Young Love.” All told, his channel has over 22 million views.

Lieb’s not just a fan favorite. His fresh pop sound with the big hooks and smart lyrics also gets raves from critics, with one insightful writer saying Lieb’s music is like a cross between Katy Perry and Bruce Springsteen.

“That’s my favorite comparison ever!” he confesses.

How does an independent recording artist get so many fans and critics — not to mention major corporations — excited about his music?

“I really think the biggest thing is that I truly am authentically myself,” Lieb says, “I can’t do anything that I think people will want to see or want to hear if it doesn’t feel truthful to me.”

“Even if people don’t know it, people are starved for authenticity because everything is so packaged and manufactured and created by huge teams of people,” he says. “The second people come out and truly represent how they really are, and what they really feel without holding back, that’s when you tap into something great. People recognize that, 100 percent.”

He came in like a “Wrecking Ball” taking the internet by storm! “omg! Insider” correspondent Keltie Knight, caught up with Eli Lieb, the 29-year-old crooner who went viral with his cover of Miley Cyrus’s mega hit “Wrecking Ball.” Lieb’s version became so popular, even Adam Lambert took to his Twitter to share the video with his fans. So why did Lieb chose the former Disney darling’s tune? He told Keltie, “It’s just a really good song.” Check out the vid to hear a bit of Lieb’s new single, “Young Love” and tune in to “omg! Insider” on TV tonight for the latest in entertainment news.