Surfaces are still stunned by the success of their breakthrough hit Sunday Best after it blew up on TikTok in 2020.
The duo released the third song from their second LP ‘Where the Light Is’ back in January 2019, after which it took a year for the tune to break into the mainstream charts.
However, the song became a surprise hit on video sharing site TikTok, with users soundtracking their clips to the line, ‘Feeling good / Like I should’.
Speaking in the May 2022 issue of Retro Pop, the duo – starring Forrest Frank and Colin Padalecki – open up about their surprise success, admitting they never had big plans for Sunday Best.
“I don’t think I saw Sunday Best as a very commercial song when we first made it,” admits Colin. “But then, all of a sudden, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, listen to this pop song’.”
Forrest agrees: “It was just this perfect recipe of like, we didn’t know anybody in the industry, so therefore we didn’t even think it was going to make us money. It was purely us just enjoying it.”
“I remember that day [they wrote Sunday Best] and it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, let’s make this type of song,’ or, ‘Let’s start at this BPM’,” adds Colin. “It was just like, ‘Let’s just do whatever falls out of us,’ right?”
The duo never expected to land a hit and, reflecting on the time, they maintain it came out of the blue – not least of all because they barely had a social media presence back then.
“Our marketing [strategy] has always been less is more,” explains Colin. “It started out in college, playing songs to friends and family, and we’d been on SoundCloud, so we had that kind of community.”
Forrest laughs: “We didn’t have TikTok or anything to make us go viral!”
The success saw the pair enter the global charts and caught the attention of Elton John, who collaborated with Surfaces on the single Learn To Fly.
“I mean, he’s a legend,” Colin beams. “I would have done it in any circumstance. He was just so presentable and knowledgeable and kind.
“He had no ego to bring; he made the music process so fun. He had really good takes on things and it was very natural.”
Read the full interview in the May 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store or use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist.
