Fritz Hager is having an AWESOME week.
Last Monday (April 25) the singer advanced to the American Idol season 20 Top 10 on the strength of his tender rendition of the Oasis hit, “Wonderwall.” In the following days, he spent time at Disneyland with his family preparing for Sunday’s “Disney Night” (May 1) when he will perform “Go the Distance” from Hercules.
But the cherry on Top? Fritz’s self-titled EP of original songs has been climbing the iTunes charts this week. The singer thanked his fans on social media: “I’m still in shock right now. This afternoon, in just a few hours, my debut EP climbed the pop charts to #1, and is currently #7 overall. All I can say is thank you to everyone who listened, everyone who backed the kickstarter, and the amazing people who helped make it possible. @smithmusic My producer @mauldin_productions on bass @jacksonmauldin_music guitar @garypatrickmusic drums by @christiandornmusic strings by @deeringmilo and co-writes with @leahmarlenemusic. This is such a dream and it’s only the beginning. And thanks to @americanidol for starting this whole thing. Just. Thank you.” Fritz pretty much spent the week freaking out as the EP rose on iTunes.
As Fritz said, his self-titled EP climbed to No 1 on the Itunes Pop charts. But it hit as high as 28 on the overall chart as well. The five song EP is also racking up streams on Spotify. The single “All My Friends” has racked up over 24K streams. In fact, Blake Busch wrote about Fritz’s EP in his piece on the singer’s performance of Dean Lewis’ “Waves” in Hawaii. Blake noted that Fritz sang his original “Inconsequential Love” for the Showstoppers round.
Fritz funded the EP with a Kickstarter campaign in December
A few weeks after American Idol taped Hollywood Week in December, when Fritz made the Top 24, he announced a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the album “GUYS I HAVE A KICKSTARTER!!!,” Fritz wrote. “So anyone that knows me also knows that I’ve been wanting to record an EP for a very long time, and hopefully with your support we can make it happen! A link to the kickstarter can be found in my bio, so go check it out!!!”
By January 2, the campaign hit it’s first goal. “Let’s get to $7500!” Fritz wrote. With the help of an anonymous backer that matched the first $3000, the singer made his goal and began recording songs. On February 25, two days before the American Idol premiere, Fritz released the first single “All My Friends.” And a month later, on March 25, the full five song EP dropped.
Fritz isn’t the only season 20 contestant to drop music this year. Country singer HunterGirl hit the charts with her 5 song EP after performing her original “Heartbreak Down ” on the Top 20 performance show. The song went as high as No. 65 on the overall singles chart, while the EP climbed to the No. 5 spot.
Also, Fritz’s pal Leah Marlene released a self-titled EP in February. She performed the track “Wisher to the Well” for her audition and on Monday’s Top 14 reveal episode, after learning that she made the cut.
