Travie McCoy Flies High With Cover Art And Lead Single “Billionaire”

Becky Bain | April 5, 2010 10:30 am

Gym Class Heroes’ Travis Travie McCoy unveiled the high-flying cover art to his debut solo album Lazarus (due June 8), and although it reminds us more of Icarus than Lazarus, we’re still digging the conceptual art work. McCoy has a slew of helping hands on his album—producers and featured artists on the record include T-Pain, The Stereotypes, and his Fueled By Ramen buddy (and frequent collaborator) Patrick Stump. Put some dollar signs in your eyes and listen to Travie’s first single “Billionaire,” featuring soul singer Bruno Mars, below.

[wpaudio url=”//idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Billionaire.mp3″ text=”Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars – Billionaire” dl=”0″]

This sunny, Jason Mraz-sounding jam is definitely in the same funky, fun vibe as Gym Class Heroes’ previous material—it perfectly combines a real message (“I’d probably visit where Katrina hit and damn sure do a lot more than FEMA did”) with a pinch of humor (“its been a couple months that I’ve been single/so you can call me Travie Claus minus the Ho Ho”). Ouch—diss to his ex Katy Perry, perhaps?

Makes us wonder why McCoy decided to go solo this time around instead of contributing this song to GCH’s next album, but “Billionaire” is a bright track that we can proudly add onto the pile with Barenaked Ladies’ “If I Had A Million Dollars,” Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl,” and Calloway’s “I Want To Be Rich” in the pantheon of songs regarding the sweet dream of having lots and lots of money.

Check out a live acoustic rendition of the song over at EW’s Music Mix.