Tommy Richman had valid reasons for leaving his two most viral songs off the tracklist of his debut album, Coyote.
Two months after the release of his aforementioned LP, the Virginia native spoke to Complex's Eric Skelton in a new profile, where he explained the Coyote exclusion of his viral songs "Million Dollar Baby" and "Devil Is a Die."
A bulk of Coyote, which Richman said was recorded "in the middle of nowhere" in Beatty, Nevada, was "basically done" prior to the release of "Million Dollar Baby" and "Devil Is a Lie." As Richman shared, he didn't want his introductory LP to be a continuation of his viral success.
"I wanted to make an album that you can play front to back, from the first song to the last song, and then you just play it over and over again. This is my real art side. I was trying to make a vinyl record—not trying to make a playlist," he told Complex.
"In my mind, the song blew up, so everybody already knew the song," Richman continued about the shocking decision. "I wasn't thinking about it from a logistics label standpoint. I'm like, 'Oh, people already know the song.' Let me put out the album.' That's literally the dumb elementary reasoning. But of course, if you put the song on there, the sales go up, and it looks better numbers-wise. But I just wanted to stand on business with that."
Upon its Sept. 27 debut, Coyote reportedly sold around 4,300 units first-week, although "Million Dollar Baby" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became RIAA-certified four times platinum. "Devil Is A Lie" peaked at No. 32 on the chart.
"With some of my friends, they understood it, and they were like, 'Fuck yeah,' But everybody on the other side was just like, ‘What are you doing?!'" Richman continued. "I just thought it would be cool."
The singer added that he thought it would be "cool to stand on business" and did just that, although, in hindsight, he acknowledged that it may have some effect on the underperformance of Coyote.
"I mean, I guess it's like a mist—I don't know," Richman said, adding, "I don't regret it."
On first-week sales, Richman called it "an indicator of where your motion's at."
"I try not to look too deep into it. Well, I want to not look too deep into it. It's fine. I try not to let it bother me too much," he said. "I know it's a beautiful piece of art and yeah, it was a little disappointing seeing how it looked and how people made fun of me, but it's whatever. It's fine. I'm not going to let a first week number get to me."
