Breaking Artist: Metro Station

Who: Los Angeles' Metro Station, a sugarcoated emo quartet led by the older siblings of two Disney stars — including one who's currently topping the charts.

Sounds Like: Led by singer/guitarist Trace Cyrus (yes, Miley's old brother), Metro Station bridge the gap between Fall Out Boy's emo pop and High School Musical, especially on tracks liked their million-selling synthed-out single "Shake It." "We never thought this one would succeed," Cyrus says. "At first we just had the chorus. Our manager told us, 'You need to write verses for this!'"

Vital Stats:

• The band formed after Cyrus met singer/guitarist Mason Musso on the set of Hannah Montana (Musso's little brother Mitchel is an actor on Miley's show). After discovering they had a similar taste in music, they began recording demos that they posted on MySpace, where they picked up a following.

• Metro Station aren't just for the kids, as they sometimes draw the geriatric crowd. "At a show in Boston, there was an old lady holding her cane up in the air," Cyrus says. "It was hilarious."

• Despite their Hollywood roots, both Cyrus and Musso worked crappy mall jobs before they (or at least their siblings) hit it big. Cyrus sold sneakers, while Musso's expertise was soft pretzels.

Hear It Now: Metro Station's self-titled debut album is out now, and "Shake It" is soundtracking commercials for DeGrassi: The Next Generation. Click above for the break dancing-filled video for "Shake It."

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter