Alternative band The Neighbourhood seems to still be holding our hands in the holes of their sweater.
Their hit “Sweater Weather” earns two milestones this year. First, for turning 10 years old. And lastly, for earning a diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song became one of the 106 that earned that certification.
Throughout the decade, the song was used by different generations of social media users. The hype over the hit started in the early 2010s on the beloved social networking site Tumblr and the video-sharing app Vine. But even after a decade, it still has a hold on listeners, thanks to video-sharing platform TikTok. In terms of music and video streaming numbers, the song garnered 2.1 billion and 1.7 billion streams on Spotify and YouTube, respectively.
The co-writers of the song have different reactions to the achievements. Guitarist Zach Abels still feels humble despite all of their current wins.
“To achieve such a big milestone is hard to believe,” said Abels. “I think for all of us, it’s really hard to take in and accept it as reality,” he tells Variety.
The band’s frontman, Jesse Rutherford, who is currently doing a project for Atlantic Records as a solo artist, says that he views the song today the same as in the past.
“I think for all of us, it’s really hard to take in and accept it as reality,” said Rutherford. “It’s weird that I’m still talking about it at all to be honest.”
When asked about the “Sweater Weather” diamond certification, Rutherford felt ‘rock hard’ while simultaneously feeling grateful for how the song opened doors.
Interestingly, most listeners have thought that they were British, given the spelling of the band name. First released on the 2012 EP I’m Sorry…, it took over a year for the song to break into the Billboard Hot 100. The song peaked at No. 14 in December 2013.
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