Pomplamoose Artistfacts

2008-
Nataly DawnVocals, bass, piano
Jack ConteKeyboards, drums, various other instruments
Nataly Dawn (real name: Natalie Knutsen) and Jack Conte both graduated from Stanford University. They were both part of the campus music scene and met in 2005 when she opened for his band at the campus coffeehouse, CoHo. They started dating and making music together a year later.
Pomplamoose's primary platform is YouTube. All of their songs come with videos of varying complexity that they post there on a regular basis. They started doing this in 2008 when there weren't many "creators" on the platform posting quality material consistently - it was before the era of the "YouTube star."

Their methodical approach gradually built them a huge fanbase that connected with them on an intimate level, quite a contrast to the YouTube sensations that had a viral video but were soon forgotten (we're talking to you, "Chocolate Rain" guy). By the time other performers realized YouTube could build a career, it was saturated, but Pomplamoose was already out to a commanding lead with enough subscribers to sustain them as long as they kept making music.
Jack Conte is the co-founder of the crowdfunding platform Patreon, which launched in 2013. He formed the company with his former roommate at Stanford, Sam Yam.

Pomplamoose served as a test case for Patreon, which asks fans to sign up for subscriptions for ongoing perks instead of making one-time donations. Patreon worked out very well for Pomplamoose, which had a very dedicated fanbase by that point. Being an authentic user helped Conte maintain quality control - if something was buggy, he was likely to find it and fix it.
Pomplamoose is entirely independent and have always rejected offers to join record labels. They handle their own publicity and distribution, eschewing press releases and other industry traditions. Their official bio simply reads: "Jack Conte & Nataly Dawn make music together and with their friends."
Their name is a play on the French word for grapefruit, pamplemousse. Nataly Dawn moved to France with her parents when she was nine years old and earned a degree in French literature from Stanford in 2009.
Dawn and Conte got married in 2016. As you might expect, their wedding video was posted online and viewed over 200,000 times.
When they started, they did everything themselves, playing all the instruments, doing the mixing, editing the videos, etc. Over time they built a team to help with various tasks and expand their output. In 2017 they started releasing a video every week, recording four at a time once a month at one-day sessions in Los Angeles.
In 2010 they appeared in Christmastime commercials for Hyundai performing "Deck The Halls" and "Jingle Bells." The commercials emulates the look of their videos, with split screens and shots of Nataly and Jack performing.

Earlier that year, their cover of "Mr. Sandman" was used in a Toyota commercial.
Nataly Dawn releases solo albums from time to time; her first was How I Knew Her in 2013. These song's aren't a good fit for Pomplamoose because they're very personal and expressive, often stemming from her meditation practice. In a 2022 Songfacts interview with Dawn, she said: "If you do it just a little bit each day, you will, slowly, be able to feel more presence and joy. There are weeks when I can write from that place and it's because I've been practicing for weeks to actually be present while I'm writing and then there are weeks when I can't. I'm aware of the ongoing nature of it now, that there is no arrival. You don't just get somewhere and then it's good."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

Brass In PocketPretenders

Chrissie Hynde got the phrase "Brass In Pocket" from a Northern England slang term meaning you had some money, "brass" meaning coins.

TemptedSqueeze

The Squeeze song "Tempted" is one of their few with lead vocals by Paul Carrack, who sang the Ace song "How Long" and was in Mike + The Mechanics.

God Bless AmericaKate Smith

Irving Berlin said "God Bless America" was "not a patriotic song, but rather an expression of gratitude."

Radar LoveGolden Earring

At the end of "Radar Love," the driver dies in a crash but maintains a psychic bond with the woman he was racing to see. The song's lyricist was inspired by stories of extrasensory perception (ESP).