This is the second time this has happened, an English act that has been hiding in plain sight, successful across the pond, only gets traction here in the U.S. years later. That’s the story of Olivia Dean and now Sienna Spiro.
Now Dean was boosted by opening for Sabrian Carpenter on her "Short n' Sweet" tour back in 2025. But it wasn't until "Man I Need" was adopted by TikTok that she triumphed in the U.S., to the point where her tour is one of the hottest of the summer, people complaining they can't buy tickets. But her first album came out in the U.K. in 2023 and reached a pinnacle of number 4 on the chart. She was nominated for a slew of Brit Awards in the wake of that success, however, it was crickets over here in the U.S.
But the funny thing is anybody who actually heard Dean's work would know it had mass appeal. The only issue was reaching the public.
As for Sienna Spiro, she had chart action in the U.K., but it wasn't until the inclusion of "Material Lover" in "The Devil Wears Prada 2" that she gained mindshare over here.
So what have we learned?
A bunch of things:
1. American outposts of international conglomerates are doing a piss-poor job of promoting the work of overseas artists. There are many reasons, but I'd bet the classic one plays a factor...people want to promote their own signings to bask in the glory if they hit, something they won't get, at least not in spades, if they boost a foreign number.
One can also argue there's a lack of vision, that both these acts don't sound exactly like what is in the U.S. Spotify Top 50, so to break them is seen as a heavy lift, which the American labels don't want to attempt, they'd rather go for the low-hanging fruit.
2. Movies don't have the mental reach they once did. The hype for "The Devil Wears Prada 2" was inescapable. But did anybody CARE? I saw the first film, it seemed self-contained, no sequel was implied or necessary. But in Hollywood, an old success is always lying in wait to be dredged up and repeated. But whatever I think of the new film, it did gross $216.2 million in the U.S. and Canada, which is approximately 20 million attendees. Now that's not chump change, but today the public does not buy soundtracks, they pick and play that which gains notoriety.
Let me restate this... "The Devil Wears Prada 2" definitely lifted the included Sienna Spiro track "Material Lover," but the days of "The Bodyguard" are over, it didn't make the song an instant, ubiquitous cultural success.
But why did it take a soundtrack inclusion to shine a light on Spiro? Why couldn't her music stand on its own previously?
But as much of a push, as much of a breakthrough "Material Lover" is. it still hasn't penetrated the Spotify U.S. Top 50. And with 36,391,982 streams it only has a fraction of the listens of "Die on This Hill," which has 480,556,851 and "The Visitor," "You Stole the Show" and "Maybe," all of which are over 100 million.
3. Do charts reflect success? Now the funny thing is "Die on This Hill" made it all the way to #9 in the U.K. last year, but it also made it to #19 in the U.S! So, the label did make somewhat of an effort, but does #19 mean anything anymore? Are the singles charts out of whack with reality? The Luminate charts use a manipulated number. They're comprised of streams, digital downloads, physical sales and airplay. They're a metric for the industry, but in reality? The raw Spotify listening numbers are the ones that tell the truth, that everybody relies on. There's no weighting, nobody out purchasing physical product to goose the chart number, they're a reflection of raw demand.
Then again, does #19 mean that anybody really heard it?
One thing is for sure, whatever the chart number, Sienna Spiro was essentially unknown by most Americans until very recently.
But the funny little thing is you only have to LISTEN to Sienna Spiro, just like Olivia Dean, to get it. This music is the opposite of most of the drivel purveyed today. These two acts are steeped in traditional R&B, not a far cry from the music of the sixties and seventies, the perennials that are still played today. This isn't novelty music based on one chord. There is no 808 on "Material Lover," a sound which has even infiltrated the country world.
The bottom line is Spiro could be a gigantic act if most Americans heard her, were exposed to her (the movie helped, but that's far from everybody in the country).
So, our avenues of exploitation are broken. How can an act as good as this not be an instant smash, she would have been in the pre-internet era.
The youth-focused music business has excluded much of the country, playing to an ever-dwindling slice of the market. Believing only youngsters are interested in new music. But the dirty little secret is the industry has burned out the public by hyping niche stuff that many find unappealing. And there's so much in the pipeline that it's overwhelming for most people, they just listen to their old favorites, they've given up on new music. But if they heard "Material Lover"...
That's the challenge, how does the industry get people to listen to Sienna Spiro?
If this were the seventies, Spiro would be embraced by rock fans who did not need singles success to validate their listening choices. She'd be seen as a credible artist. You know, one who has something to say beyond the single, who is just not cookie-cutter, following trends.
"Material Lover" sounds good, it's upbeat and soothing, and you can dance to it. What more can you want?
How do we connect the dots between the song/act and the audience? That's the challenge. But the truth is "Material Lover" has more mass appeal than the movie it was part of. This is music's power, the ability to reach all and affect the national consciousness.
How could Sieanna Spiro be hiding in plain sight and go unrecognized until now and still by so few?
That is the question.
"Material Lover":
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2NT5EOtSEOrjfisvwmSv5S?si=24fc38be12b74d90
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZOiy1-cnxM
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