Otis McDonald — the stage name of Joe Bagale — has released his latest track, “Little Bit Longer” exclusively on American Songwriter. The funk-filled romp features tremendous beats, slick lyrics, and has a play-it-again energy that will grab listeners immediately and not let them shake loose until the final note.
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The deeper meaning to the song notwithstanding, the overall experience is quite an accomplishment for an artist that has earned his stripes by keeping San Francisco clubs packed with a unique blend of pop and soul.
“Little Bit Longer is a tale that is, unfortunately, far too common,” McDonald told American Songwriter. “It is a story about two young women trying make it ‘big’ but end up making silly compromises in order to get ahead.
“The chorus is really a message to everyone about staying true to your passion and not worrying about getting older. If we all just wait a little longer, we’ll be smarter and stronger and know what we want out of life.”
The track is a preview of what is to come when McDonald releases his studio debut album, People Music (TrackTribe), on December 6. McDonald produces the tracks out of the iconic Studio D at Hyde Street Studios in downtown SF where records were cut by Herbie Hancock, Meshell Ndegeocello, 2Pac, and Digital Underground.
With his debut album a spotlight is pointing at the overall talent that McDonald possess as an artist. He performs on all the instruments (except horns and strings), unveils a powerful punch of funk, pop, and soul tracks that uniquely deliver messages of the times.
The songs also, inevitably, put people in motion.
“The track is funky. So what do you do when you listen to funk? Dance!,” McDonald said. “It was important to have a strong female lead and Jamella (Cross) was brilliant. Through the power of the universe, she showed up at a show I was playing and I knew we had found our star.
“I hope that people will hear the song and always think of the uplifting energy that our actress brought to this track.”
People Music will also mark the first release from TrackTribe, a new independent music company conceived by Bagale and a group of life-long friends and music industry veterans. TrackTribe encourages fans to use tracks from People Music in their online videos for free. It is designed to allow music lovers and video creators to use Otis McDonald’s tracks, and they decide which songs become most popular through their videos.
Thus far, McDonald’s copyright-free tracks have garnered the independent artist over 3 million downloads, 3.5 million different videos featuring his music with an astonishing 7.6 billion views, and a rapidly growing online fanbase on Spotify and YouTube.
