by Rae Sherrick
Each year Merrimack College has a spring concert where students can come together to watch a performance of a lifetime. Famous performers come to North Andover to put on a wonderful performance for the Merrimack community only.
On March 23, the Office of Student Involvement announced that this year’s performer would be Two Friends. Two Friends are a DJ and Producer duo, recognized for their work in remixing popular songs. Eli Sones and Matthew Halper, after being childhood friends, became a DJ and Producer duo in 2011, and have been producing remixes and albums together since.
However, since the announcement, many students have had mixed emotions about the performers.
Colin Heilmann, a sophomore stated “I had never heard of them before the announcement, when I looked them up I was just confused. I can’t understand how we had Jason Derulo last year and can’t get someone just as good,.
Colin often listens to rock, but stated he would have loved to see if the college could have gotten a performer like Yung Gravy.
The majority of students interviewed had a word in common, disappointed. Merrimack College had Jason Derulo last year. Jason has sold over 250 million singles worldwide, as well as won eleven platinum singles for hit songs like Wiggle, Trumpets, and Whatcha Say.
After having such a performer last year, the expectations were very high for this year’s performer or performers. However, many students have felt let down and disappointed with Two Friends being chosen for this year’s performance.
Bryant Claudio, a freshman here at Merrimack stated, “I was really excited about the Spring Concert since a lot of colleges make it a big deal, and they had Jason Derulo last year! I was looking forward to it, but now that I see who is performing, I don’t even want to go anymore.”
Though many students don’t seem happy with the performers, that doesn’t mean there will not be students attending the concert.
Cole Cameron, a senior at Merrimack stated, “When I heard who is performing I was indifferent, to me it is more of a social event than a true concert. It’s a time to spend time with friends and listen to some music together,”.
After interviewing a handful of students from all grades, around 40% of those polled will not go to the concert while the other 60% are unsure if they will go or not.
Since 60% are still unsure, they may have the same outlook as Cole. Though many students have not heard of Two Friends before now, the attendance rate may still be good. This depends on if students are going socially or for the person performing.
Emma West, a sophomore who often listens to rock stated,
“I am not a concert person anyway, just gives me another reason not to go now that I don’t know who Two Friends are,”.
100% of the interviewed students stated that they had never heard of Two Friends before the announcement and 70% stated that they were disappointed with them being chosen to perform this year. The other 30% felt indifferent toward the announcement.
Sarah Perkins, a freshman after founding out who Two Friends were stated, “They don’t have bad music at all, however, it just isn’t my style of music. Their remixes are nice and the performance will likely be very hype and upbeat for students who go”.
When asked if she would be going she was unsure due to her friends being unsure if they were going to go as well.
Though students at Merrimack have not heard of Two Friends, they have over a million monthly listeners worldwide on Spotify with their most popular song being Life’s Too Short which came out in 2021, in collaboration with FITZ. The song itself has over 18,000,000 plays, meaning that the song has played over 18,000,000 times across the world.
Two Friends is known for their Big Bootie remixes, a remix of the most popular songs to get people hyped up and dancing, it can be compared to rager remixes. Ragers are often very wild dance parties, with loud music and bright lights. The whole purpose of this style of music is to get people within a group very excited.
For students who are interested in the performance, tickets are $30 and the event will be held on Thursday, April 27, starting at 7 p.m. in the Lawler Rink. Tickets can be purchased on the Merrimack Athletics ticket website, easily found through the Merrimack College website, if you search for Spring Concert.
