2. “Fireflies” is only one of his hits.

If you only ever listen to pop radio, you’re missing out on so much good music. Many of Owl City’s most popular songs have never charted: “Verge” and “When Can I See You Again” both have over 30 million streams on Spotify alone. “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” has earned over 10 millions streams completely through word of mouth in the year since it was released.

But it’s not just the hits that matter….

3. Adam has released hundreds of compelling songs.

With any great musician, the hits only tell half the story. To really understand the universe of Owl City’s mind, you have to explore the hidden gems and deep cuts, and Owl City has a lot of them. They range from bizarre and dreamlike songs like Early Birdie and Lucid Dream to sweet love songs like If My Heart Was A House to meditations on the pain of loneliness, abuse and suicide with songs like Silhouette and This Isn’t the End.

Newer songs from his latest album Cinematic have already racked up some impressive streaming numbers with almost no media coverage.

(Here’s a playlist I made of some his best overlooked songs: Spotify YouTube)

Speaking of streaming numbers…

4. Owl City is far more popular than you think.

@owlcity twitter (October 10 2018)

He averages about 4 million listeners a month on Spotify, despite having had no radio presence since “Good Time” in 2012, and leaving a big-budget record label for full independence in 2017.

Just to wrap your head around how big that number is: Dashboard Confessional averages about 1 million monthly listeners. Death Cab for Cutie about 3 million. And yet Owl City gets a fraction of the press coverage and critical flattery of these artists. Even the Postal Service, who Owl City was accused of ripping off when he first debuted, averages less than a million listeners a month.

And he has a huge following overseas, especially in Asia: non-native English speakers sing along word for word to his songs both popular and obscure at sell out shows throughout the world.

But of course numbers aren’t everything! Is the music any good?

5. His lyrics are more sophisticated than you think.

@OwlCityOfficial Instagram, June 14, 2018

It’s no secret that many music critics savagely hate Owl City’s music. Some of the most most viscerally spiteful music reviews I’ve ever read have been by journalists covering his releases.

But, as a musician myself, I can assure you it’s not because his musical ability is lacking. I think it has more to do with his unrelenting positivity driven by his Christian faith. Many critics simply despise his lack of cynicism, to their own detriment.

Although as I get older I’ve begun to appreciate his simple positivity more and more, I’ll admit that even I cringe occasionally at Owl City’s sappiness, especially on the bigger hits (Good Time is not my jam). As I’ve already said, to really understand Owl City, you have to dive below the surface. The sweet songs make more sense when interspersed with the sense of heartache throughout his whole body of work, especially in his early music.

But there’s more to music than just lyrics.

6. His instrumentals are far more sophisticated than you think.

@OwlCityOfficial Instagram, May 10, 2018

While Adam may not be the best lyricist, the music beneath is exquisitely crafted. There are subtle nuances and melodic complexities you might not notice if you don’t have experience with composition and music production. The deeper you listen, the more you’ll be rewarded with motifs and flourishes, little Easter egg treasures woven into the tapestry of his virtuoso level sound engineering skills.

Speaking of sound engineering, Adam has grown into one of the best of his generation (he laid out a few tips and tricks in a recent reddit AMA). Cinematic especially is an absolute sonic delight, with airy but crisp mixes combining pop hooks and straight forward lyrics with a truly cinematic soundscape.

7. He has openly rejected the Hollywood music scene and still lives in his hometown .

@owlcity official Twitter, August 13, 2018

Usually when an artist lands a #1 international hit, they pack everything up and move to LA to schmooze with Hollywood royalty and tit-for-tat their way up the totem pole. But despite pressure from his bosses at Universal Music, he chose instead to stay in his hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota, about sixty miles south of Minneapolis. He says that although his isolation limits his options to network with industry titans, it helps him to simply be more creative.

And the risk of avoiding Hollywood was worthwhile because…

9. He‘s truly not looking for hits.

Poster for Owl City’s 2018 tour in China

Every artist dreams of the day when he or she can quit their job and spend their life on their passion. This is essentially what Adam Young has achieved. He still earns a nice chunk in streaming revenue and has sold millions of albums worldwide.

But instead of living a life of excess in Hollywood, or pursuing more cheap pop hits to chase higher echelons of fame, he’s holed up in his hometown, touring whenever he wants to, and spending his life honing his craft. He doesn’t need hits anymore; he’s already arrived.

And the best part of it all:

10. Owl City is going to have a long, satisfying career.

In the decade or so since he began making music in his parent’s basement, he’s gone from writing sweet, simple pop ballads to composing complex and ambitious instrumental projects. He’s evolved from a painfully introverted teenager into a confident performer, composer, engineer, and businessman.

Owl City has only just begun to leave his mark on the world of music. Fireflies will probably always be his signature song. But it was just the beginning, the first signal flare to catch the world’s attention. There’s so much left to explore.