A Great Big World

A Great Big World Biography by Matt Collar Melodic singer/songwriter duo A Great Big World are best known for their chart-topping single "Say Something," off their 2014 debut, Is There Anybody Out There? The track, which featured guest vocals by Christina Aguilera, won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and paved the way for their 2015 sophomore album, When the Morning Comes. A Great Big World formed in 2010 while bandmates Ian Axel and Chad King were music business students at New York University. The duo began touring, playing their own songs as well as covers by such artists as Ingrid Michaelson and Five for Fighting. In 2013, their profile was raised significantly after their song "This Is the New Year" was covered on the Fox TV show Glee and licensed for use on various other TV shows. That same year, A Great Big World signed to Epic and released the three-song EP This Is the New Year, which featured the single "Say Something." While not an immediate hit, a re-recorded version featuring Christina Aguilera arrived in November 2013, propelling the track to the top of international charts. The success of the song helped push their full-length debut, 2014's Is There Anybody Out There?, into the Top Three of the Billboard 200. "Say Something" would later win a Grammy in 2015. The duo's second album, When the Morning Comes, arrived in late 2015. Although the effort did not rise to the same heights as its predecessor, it produced the Hot 100 entry "Hold Each Other," featuring rapper Futuristic. For their third long-player, A Great Big World recorded a cover version of Jeff Lynne's "When I Was a Boy," which arrived in 2017. Later that year, they issued "Life Is Good" from the animated movie The Star. In 2018, they released "Younger," the second single from their self-titled LP. The following year saw the duo re-team with Christina Aguilera for the soaring single "Fall on Me." In 2020, they released their first-ever holiday song, "Wrap Me Up Under the Christmas Tree."