‘Half the Man’ climbs up Digital Radio Tracker’s Top 200

Resh: ‘There is a lot of talent from around the world. It can come from countries like ours.’

PETALING JAYA: R&B singer Resh, formerly known as Reshmonu, has broken into the US music charts with his latest single, Half the Man.

More than two weeks after its release in the US, the R&B track off his latest EP Who Am I hit No. 146 on the Digital Radio Tracker’s (DRT) National Airplay Top 200 Chart last week.

“You can imagine my excitement when the song made it to the charts so quickly. I’m still just coming to terms with it,” said the 39-year-old singer, who is currently on a promotional tour in Singapore, in a telephone interview.

The song also earned a spot on the DRT National Airplay Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Chart at No. 9 and the DRT National Airplay Top 80 Independent Chart at No. 16.

DRT is a monitoring service which tracks radio airplay of songs on more than 7,000 radio stations worldwide.

The song also landed at No. 13 on Grammy-nominated producer Al Walser’s syndicated radio show, the US Top 20, on Nov 6. Even an Italian radio station, Vittek Tape, has picked up the song.

“When you listen to music today, everything is very EDM-based (electronic dance music) but I think people are still looking for R&B and soulful ballads,” he said of the song’s appeal.

Ultimately, Resh attributed the success of Half the Man to its American producer Jim Beanz, who has worked with high-profile artistes such as Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Timbaland and most recently, on the hit TV show Empire.

“He’s a perfectionist. We would clock in 12-hour shifts in the studio. We just wanted to get it right,” he said.

Resh spent three weeks in Philadelphia last year to record the song along with seven other tracks with the producer.

Since releasing his debut album Monumental in 2003, the Hey Waley hitmaker has been making waves in the local industry, winning numerous awards, including Best Male Vocal Performance at the Anugerah Industri Muzik in 2004 and 2007.

Should the song launch the singer’s career internationally, Resh said he still hoped to be based locally.

“I’m proud to be Malaysian, I love my country.

“There is a lot of talent from around the world and they don’t necessarily have to come from trendsetters. It can come from countries like ours.”