Minute After Midnight is the brainchild of Derrick Ryan, sprouting in Nashville in 2016. The 2023-release single “Ghost” catapulted to 7 million Spotify streams and landed on the SiriusXM Octane airwaves. The song and Minute After Midnight’s plentiful, hook-laden and mid-tempo alt rock melodies, which play with synths and electronics, captured the attention of powerhouse label Fearless Records, who promptly signed the artist to a global record deal. Minute After Midnight cross-pollinate both an intimate, created-in-my-bedroom vibe with room-filling production sound. It’s this exercise in contrasts that defines “Masochist,” the artist’s deceptively upbeat first single for the label. It’s a pop rock banger that indicates where Minute After Midnight is headed — musically and professionally.