Oliver Tree
Oliver Tree | |
|---|---|
 Oliver Tree in February 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Oliver Tree Nickell |
| Also known as | Tree, Turbo, Kryph |
| Born | June 29, 1993 Santa Cruz, California , U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2011-Present |
| Labels | |
| Website | olivertreemusic |
Oliver Tree Nickell (born June 29, 1993) is an American singer/songwriter, producer, and filmmaker from Santa Cruz, California.[1] He signed to Atlantic Records in 2017, after his song "When I'm Down" became popular.[2] Tree is best known for being an "artist who's part meme, part something less definable."[3] In 2020 on Twitter he announced the delay of his debut album "Ugly is Beautiful" and his temporary retirement.[4]
Early life
Tree grew up in Santa Cruz along with his brother, Jesse Nickell, and claims to have taken "piano lessons at three years old, songwriting the next year, an album written by age six".[5] He sang and played guitar in a Ska band called Irony, which was his first experience performing.[6] In high school, Tree took interest in hip-hop and electronic music, becoming a DJ and recording with the rap group Mindfuck. He has performed shows opening for acts such as Tyler, the Creator, Nero, and Frank Ocean, and has released music under his pseudonym, Tree.[7][1]
At the age of 17, he had already made presentations for performances such as Skrillex and Zeds Dead, and began releasing his music with his middle name, Tree.
At age 18, Tree signed to London-based R&S Records and released his debut EP Demons. The EP gained some recognition after Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke approved of his cover of their song "Karma Police".[8]
Tree studied business at San Francisco State University for two years[9] and Music Technology at California Institute of the Arts.
Career
Oliver launched his solo recording career as "Tree" in 2010. He initially self-released his music but signed with R&S Records in 2011. He eventually found himself on hiatus as he went back to school, studying music technology at California Institute of the Arts.[2][9]
In November 2016, he returned to music with his television debut performing with Getter on Last Call with Carson Daly.[10]
Shortly after the release of "When I'm Down", Tree signed to Atlantic Records, and a month later graduated from California Institute of the Arts.
Tree often writes, acts and directs in sketch comedy videos, and has worked with companies such as Fuck Jerry, Barstool Sports, and WorldStarHipHop.[11]
In February 2018, Tree released his major-label debut EP Alien Boy, along with the double music video for “All That x Alien Boy.” Tree wrote and directed the debut, which took over nine months to create.[2][12] He spent five months practicing freestyle Monster Truck jumping at the Perris Auto Speedway and performed all his stunts in the music video.
Oliver Tree has played major festivals such as Lollapalooza and Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, and performed as a special guest at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and EDC, most notably at Coachella where he was subsequently named on LA Weekly's "The Best (and Weirdest) Fashion at Coachella" list in 2017.[13][14]
He was the supporting act on Louis the Child's 2017 Last to Leave Tour (2017) and[15] Skizzy Mars' Are You OK? Tour (2018),[16] and was scheduled to join Lil Dicky and DJ Mustard on the Life Lessons Tour Fall 2018 before it was canceled.[13] Tree toured North America and Europe with Hobo Johnson in 2018.
A modified version of his track "Movement" was featured in a 2018 ad for the iPhone X.[17]
On December 7, 2018, Tree released his second music video, "Hurt", a single from his debut album Ugly Is Beautiful. He traveled to Ukraine to film the video, which he wrote and co-directed with Brendan Vaughan, an up-and-coming music video director.[18] In the first week, the music video for "Hurt" reached one million plays while the song received significant radio play.
On April 11, 2019, Tree released his third music video, "Fuck", with the single being released on the same day.[19]
His fourth music video and single, "Miracle Man", was released on June 7, 2019, with the video reaching 1.3 million views on the first day of release. On June 12th, he announced that he would give his final tour.[20]
Oliver released his EP “Do You Feel Me” on the 2nd of August 2019 [21] to a warm critical reception with The Needle Drop awarding the extended play a score of 7/10.[22]
On December 6, 2019, Tree released "Cash Machine", a single accompanied by a music video. Together with the single, Tree announced his debut album Ugly is Beautiful with an initial release date of March 27, 2020.[23]
On March 25th 2020, Tree posted a message to his Twitter page, stating that due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, his album would not be releasing on time and that all his future shows had been cancelled. He apologized for the news and states he wishes to release the album within 5-10 years, but as of now “he’s officially retired.” Although this was obviously satirical his album was delayed to an unspecified date.[24]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splitting Branches (as Tree) |
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| Ugly is Beautiful |
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Extended plays
| Title | Details | Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demons (as Tree) |
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| Alien Boy |
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| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Do you Feel Me? |
|
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Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Alt. [25] |
US Rock [13] |
BEL (FL) Tip [26] | |||
| "When I'm Down" (with Whethan) |
2016 | — | — | — | non-album singles |
| "Cheapskate" | 2017 | — | — | — | |
| "All You Ever Talk About" (with Whethan) |
— | — | — | ||
| "Movement" | 2018 | — | — | — | |
| "Hurt" | 4 | 11 | — | Do You Feel Me? and Ugly is Beautiful | |
| "Fuck" | 2019 | — | — | — | non-album single |
| "Miracle Man" | — | 22 | — | Do You Feel Me? and Ugly is Beautiful | |
| "Cash Machine" | — | 13 | 44 | Ugly is Beautiful | |
| "Let Me Down"[27] | 2020 | — | 9 | — | |
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | FRA [28] | |||
| "My Mind Is" (NVDES featuring Oliver Tree) |
2016 | — | — | Life with Lobsters |
| "Forget It" (Getter featuring Oliver Tree) |
— | — | Radical Dude! | |
| "Running" (NVDES featuring Oliver Tree) |
2018 | — | — | Vibe City Utah |
| "Pumpidup" (Lorenzo featuring Oliver Tree) |
2019 | — | 62 | Sex in the City |
References
- ^ a b Baine, Wallace (2006-03-10). "Santa Cruz's Oliver 'Tree' Nickell has reached the ears of world from his laptop". santacruzsentinel.com.
- ^ a b c "VIRAL SENSATION OLIVER TREE RELEASES DEBUT EP ALIEN BOY" (PDF). Atlanticrecords.com.
- ^ Lucki, Alex Norcia,Michael Marcelle,Monet (2018-12-10). "Three Strange Nights with Oliver Tree, a Music-Making Meme Machine". Vice. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Tree, Oliver (2020-03-25). "pic.twitter.com/e3d7SbO8Bu". @Olivertree. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
- ^ Leight, Elias; Leight, Elias (2019-08-16). "Oliver Tree Is Outlandish, and It's Working". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ "Chartbreaker: Inside Oliver Tree's Retro, Meme-Friendly World And How He Turned 'Hurt' Into a Hit". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ "About Oliver Tree". StubHub. Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ^ Weir, Mat. "Branching Out With Oliver Tree". euphoric.net.
- ^ a b Baine, Wallace (2016-06-22). "Branching Out With Oliver Tree". santacruzsentinel.com.
- ^ "OWSLA Getter Oliver Tree Carson Daly". owsla.com. 2016-11-03. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ^ "Oliver Tree Releases New Single 'Upside Down'". broadwayworld.com.
- ^ Tree, Oliver. "All That x Alien Boy". YouTube.
- ^ a b c "Oliver Tree Chart History - Hot Rock Songs". Billboard. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
- ^ Lopes, Shane. "The Best (and Weirdest) Fashion at Coachella 2017". LAWeekly.
- ^ "Louis the Child at Hollywood Palladium on Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:00 PM PST — Live Nation". livenation.com. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
- ^ "Skizzy Mars tour".
- ^ Apple iPhone X 'Unleash' Advert
- ^ Tree, Oliver. "Hurt". YouTube.
- ^ Oliver Tree (2019-04-11), Oliver Tree - Fuck [Official Music Video], retrieved 2019-04-14
- ^ Oliver Tree, Oliver Tree final tour Twitter Announcement, retrieved 2019-06-13
- ^ News Desk, BWW (2019-08-02). "Oliver Tree Drops Sophomore EP". Broadway World. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
{{cite web}}: Check|archive-url=value (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ The, Needle Drop (2019-08-08). "Oliver Tree - Do You Feel Me? EP REVIEW". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
{{cite web}}: Check|archive-url=value (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Oliver Tree - Cash Machine [Official Music Video], retrieved 2019-12-06
- ^ Tree, Oliver (2020-03-25). "pic.twitter.com/e3d7SbO8Bu". @Olivertree. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
- ^ "Oliver Tree Chart History: Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ "Discografie Oliver Tree". Ultratop. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- ^ "New Aus Music Playlist 10/04/20". Music Feeds. April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ^ "Oliver Tree Chart History: French Charts". lescharts.com. Retrieved September 6, 2019.