Fancy Hagood

Did You Know?

• Elton John called Fancy Hagood a 'hoot' on his Apple Music 1 Rocket Hour in late 2023.
• Hagood's debut album 'Southern Curiosity' was released on April 9, 2021.

Early life

Born in Bentonville, Arkansas on March 29, 1991, Jake Hagood taught himself piano at eleven, raised on Christian and country music. After high school, he studied at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, where coworkers at Forever 21 nicknamed him "Fancy." While there, he wrote songs and played local shows. He left college after producers Scooter Braun, Scott Borchetta, and Dr. Luke discovered him. Hagood is openly gay.

Career

Beginning in January 2015, Hagood's team built a viral campaign around his debut single 'Goodbye', released without revealing his identity. Pseudo-music videos and a lyric clip garnered over 4 million YouTube views, and radio support from stations like New York's Z100 helped the song reach number 29 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart, number 48 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart, and number 98 on the Billboard Hot 100. Three music videos featured different actors lip-syncing, addressing themes of gender identity and body positivity; a fourth video with Hagood himself was filmed but never released.

Hagood told USA Today he wanted people to 'know [his] art before they knew [him]', but the concept drew mixed reactions, including vocal opposition from pop singer Meghan Trainor. He revealed his identity on April 7, 2015, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. To promote his second single 'Boys like You', he performed with Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande on Dancing with the Stars on January 23, 2016. After 'Boys Like You' failed to chart, Hagood parted ways with manager Braun and Republic, hoping to relaunch his career in summer 2016.

In 2016, he was featured on a Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran mashup by Louisa Wendorff that received good reviews. He later returned to Nashville, adopting the stage name Fancy Hagood and incorporating country, confessional pop, and glam rock. In July 2020, he released his first single under the new moniker, titled 'Don't Blink'.