NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The lead single from Grammy Award-winning duo forthcoming album 鈥淵oung鈥� is a hard pivot from the wedding songs that make up so much of the country pair鈥檚 discography.
___ EDITOR鈥橲 NOTE 鈥� This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at ___
鈥淪ay So,鈥� with its big-hearted and hopeful chorus, is about suicide prevention. It was written in tribute to Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney’s late mentor Ben Vaughn, head of Warner Chappell Music Publishing, who died by suicide a year before.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going through hell, you鈥檙e not alone,鈥� Mooney sings. 鈥淚f you need somebody, say so.鈥�
鈥淔or one of the first times in our career, I was like, 鈥業鈥檓 not like sure if we should tackle this,鈥欌�� Smyers told The Associated Press.
But in the studio, it became an inevitability 鈥� even though they were uncertain. 鈥淲e were just sharing stories about our friend. And it just fell out of us. A verse and a chorus in, and I think we were all just like, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know, man. Is this too heavy to tackle?’鈥� Smyers continued.
Creating the demo together, alongside co-writers David Hodges and Jimmy Robbins, became therapeutic.
鈥淲e owed it to our friend Ben,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e owe it to the community, who he meant so much to. And I feel like we owed it to ourselves to at least see that one through to the finish line.鈥�
What they didn’t realize is that the day they started work on the song was also what would’ve been Vaughn’s 50th birthday. 鈥淚t was more than a coincidence,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat was the sign that this song could help somebody.鈥�
鈥淪ay So鈥� may be the heaviest song off 鈥淵oung,鈥� but it is also a thematic center for the record 鈥� 10 autobiographical tracks of crossover country that reflect their lives, now, with new emotional vulnerability 鈥� what Mooney labels 鈥渁 very life-giving thing.鈥�
The heart of ‘Young’
The album opens with its title track, the stripped-back acoustic arpeggio 鈥淵oung,鈥� what Smyers describes as 鈥渁 message from your future self to your present and past self, about the passage of time and appreciating the moment.鈥�
But there’s an additional, gendered resonance. 鈥淢en 鈥� I just think, maybe I鈥檓 generalizing 鈥� don鈥檛 do as good of a job of sharing their feelings and emotions. And I鈥檓 saying that because that鈥檚 me,鈥� he said.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e tough. You bottle it up. But when I finally broke down that wall, it changed my life. And I think that song just talks about aging as a man.鈥�
That’s yet another difficult subject, which might also explain why, before creating the 10 songs that make up 鈥淵oung,鈥� Dan + Shay wrote and scrapped an entire album’s worth of material. The tracks that made up the final collection took time, open and honest conversation, and a hearty dose of self-reflection.
It’s why there may be more religiosity to this album than in the previous works 鈥� from the single 鈥淗er, The Kids and Jesus鈥� to the album’s two mentions of .
鈥�’Her, the kids and Jesus,’ that鈥檚 kind of a snapshot at what my life looks like right now,鈥� Mooney said.
Growing into ‘The Old Guys’
Grief 鈥� and affection 鈥� take on many forms across 鈥淵oung.” From the ode to a young adult’s first pet (鈥淒ogs in Our Twenties鈥�) to a twist on the traditional love song format and praying your partner dies after you (the 鈥�90s country-channeling 鈥淭he Old Guys”), the songs are delivered with tenderness. The latter includes the album’s sole feature, in country music that, on paper, may seem at odds with Dan + Shay’s genre-hybridity. After all, these are the same guys who recorded the multiplatinum crossover hit 鈥�10,000 Hours鈥� featuring in 2019.
鈥淲e occupy a very different space in country music,鈥� agrees Smyers. Even vocally 鈥� Mooney’s got a high register, Johnson sings low, and when they’re all singing together, 鈥淚t’s, like, perfectly meeting in the middle.鈥�
It also highlights the range of this album. 鈥淭here鈥檚 kind of a song for everybody, for whatever you鈥檙e going through,鈥� says Mooney. 鈥淲hatever people need to get out of this album, I hope that they get that.鈥�
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