Ride

Joseph Somers-Morales is a Texan singer-songwriter who performs under the name of Somo. Though his father played in a Jazz-Rock band called Duck Soup, Somo showed little interest in music himself until he received a piano from his mom for Christmas in 2009. The youngster taught himself how to play by ear and recorded a cover of Chris Brown's "Crawl," which he uploaded onto YouTube. His version soon went viral and Somo teamed up with producer and engineer Cody Tarpley to cut a series of other covers including a medley of Drake's Take Care, which garnered over four million views. Somo released his first mixtape, My Life, on his birthday September 11, 2012. "It was important to stand out," he said "On My Life, we implemented different styles to show I could write over any type of music. At the same time, it's a cohesive story about my actual life since I started making music. There are party moments. There's heartbreak. There's love. It's real."

My Life spawned Somo's first hit "Ride." Unsigned and without any radio support at the time, the sexy serenade began selling 10,000 digital tracks weekly. He recalled the writing of the song: "It just happened one night," Somo remembered. "A girl came over, and I was drinking some red wine. I started playing the piano, and I hit my favorite chord. I wrote the hook right away. I was deeply in love with this girl and the song essentially says, 'I'm going to ride. I'd die for you. My love is forever'. Of course, there is that sexual element though. It's fun."

So why Somo? "That name has been with me for so long," said the singer. "In seventh grade, a girl wrote me a note and called me JoSoMo. I thought it was cool so I made an AIM screen name JoSoMo. All of my football teammates and coaches started calling me SoMo on the field. This is who I am."