The Campus Activities Board (CAB) capped off Spring Week with a concert headlined by Hot Chelle Rae. This comes on the heels of last year's event featuring Taylor Bennett.
“When I was going through these artists, I was like, ‘Oh, I know what I like, I know what I want to listen to’ but I want to get something that all students can kind of come in and just enjoy themselves,” junior marketing major and Vice President of Tunes, Tournaments, and Trips for CAB Sophia Couto said.
Last year’s act was Taylor Bennett, the brother of artist Chance the Rapper. Bennett struggled to engage the student population, causing low attendance and a disengaged concert environment. “We definitely want to take an account of students' feedback,” Couto said. “Rap is a difficult genre for students who aren't familiar with artists just to come and sing along with.”
This year, they sought a more mainstream name within their budget. That’s when Hot Chelle Rae came across the screen of Couto.
“I didn't even recognize their name at first and I was like, ‘Let me just listen’ as the band had a great recommendation from our contact Paul, from Pretty Polly,” Couto said. “I was going through and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I used to listen to them all the time when I was young.’”
Hot Chelle Rae is a pop-rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. They released their debut album in 2009 and reached fame in 2011 with the album “Whatever” which featured hits like “Tonight Tonight” and “I Like It Like That”.
“I told my brother when I flew home last weekend to my family back in the UK to see them all, and for me it’s telling them about our childhood, right? They were really excited for me,” Grace Wood, a member of the event leadership team said. “So things will be really exciting to see where this can take us and then to work together as a team.”
The reaction ahead of the concert’s announcement went how they hoped according to Couto. “I asked a couple of my friends and I was like, ‘Hey, do you know who this band is?’ And they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes, I love them or whatever.’ Not even asked about the spring concert.”
The process for Couto began back in June as she worked with her contact at Pretty Polly Productions, an event management company from Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts. An early start allowed Couto the maximum options. “Students come to Lasell because it is a small school and so, you know, trying to honor that but also, honoring the fact that our budget only is, you know, it's capped, you know, compared to some of these larger schools that can afford mainstream giant artists.”
“Another artist that we were looking at was Lauren Spencer-Smith… then she started to pick up steam, and then she just was over budget,” Couto said. “That's why I want to get started so early before the school even started because if you're a second too late, you don't know who's going to be out of your budget.”
CAB ended up with a turnout of over 250 students for Hot Chelle Rae and their opener, DJ Prashant Haley. “The acts were more than what we expected,” Jenna Sargent said. “For a small university like ours, this is great. Next year we hope to get even more people at all CAB events and we hope the show is just as good, if not better.”