Hi coconuts! Today’s episode of “Middle Row w Coco Mocoe” features an artist that I believe should be on your radar.
Corbyn Besson was formerly known for being a child star in the boyband “Why Don’t We” with hit songs like “8 letters”. Now, he is breaking solo. Ahead of his first EP, “Head First”, he released a song called “Blink” featuring Tzuyu from the K-Pop girl group TWICE.
He sat on this song for 8 months, waiting for the right moment and collaborator. And thank goodness he did because now the song has 13,000,000+ views on YouTube and 15,000,000+ listens on Spotify.
Corbyn Besson originally started out in the boy band “Why Don’t We”. They were a group of kids who met online and decided, “Why don’t we start a boy band?”. Hence the name.
After a whirlwind 4 years together, like playing in Madison Square Garden and collaborating with Logan Paul on videos that got 230+ million views on YouTube, it all came to a halt in 2020 with the pandemic. Fast forward to a legal battle with their former manager in 2022, where allegations of mental and financial abuse surfaced (BBC). In 2025, a judge ruled they could no longer use the name, “Why Don’t We”.
Corbyn Besson began working on his upcoming EP, Head First. He created a song called “Blink” where they felt strongly the chorus should be a female voice. They sat on the song for over 8 months while waiting for the right person.
His A&R set up a meeting between the two of them at Lollapalooza (right before both of them were to hit the stage with emotions at a high). After their meeting at Lolla, they were off to the races.
This episode of “Middle Row with Coco Mocoe” chronicles the story of how he created a song that now has 13,000,000+ views on YouTube — from being mobbed by fans while filming in Seoul, South Korea to the regrets he had with releasing other songs in the build up to this one.
You can watch my episode with the Global Lead of Hits at Spotify to hear what types of trends she expects to see in 2026 here & what we can learn from rising artists like Sombr and Olivia Dean here:
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