Listening to the lyrics of Hey World’s tenth track, “Sons and Daughters,” it’s easy to assume the song was written this year: It’s a plea for kindness in a divided world, addressing the vitriol that some people spew on social media from behind the safety and anonymity of their screens.īut actually, Brice points out, “Sons and Daughters” is an older track.
The album’s subject matter, too, was informed by the current events of 2020 - though not as directly as you might think. “I may even continue that trend on my next records, and do my vocals by myself.” “And I actually loved that part, I thought that was really cool,” Brice says of working on the record at home. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the singer recorded the vocals for Hey World in a home studio he set up himself, and then he sent those recordings off to Glover. And all of a sudden, ‘Soul’ re-belonged on the record,” the singer says.Īll credit where credit is due: Brice points to his co-producer Ben Glover as one of the major reasons why the album feels so cohesive. “And then, as the record came together, even those country songs had this soul-pop element to them. At that time, the record as a whole was trending pretty heavily toward country. At a certain point in the album-making process for Hey World, he admits, he thought that “Soul” might wind up getting trimmed from the track list. “I love country, I love rock ‘n’ roll, I love southern rock, I love rap, I love soul, I love gospel - and I don’t just love it, I write it.”īut that’s not to say he isn’t mindful of making a record cohesive on the contrary, Brice says, that’s something he thinks about a lot. “If you listen to any of my records, they’re all kinda like that,” he notes. Hey World is an omnivorous album that tips its hat to all kinds of different genres and styles, and Brice points out that that’s not a new phenomenon for him. But elsewhere, tracks like “Attaboy” and “Good Ol’ Boys” take listeners back to the gleaming, earnest country songwriting of the ‘90s. After all, Brice’s new album is brand-new, with plenty of momentum behind it and a little smattering of something for every listener on the track list.Īlongside country barn-burners like “More Beer,” for example, is a block of three soul songs - “Do Not Disturb,” “Don’t Need No Reason” and “Soul” - that are straight out of the bluesy, old-school ‘60s. Country radio hasn’t really had a bunch of real rockin’ Lee Brice kind of stuff.’” “I was looking at, ‘Hey, we need to get to the country music listeners. The album presented a lot of options for his next single, many of them leading in different stylistic directions and all of them tempting.īrice gave serious thought to going in a more up-tempo direction, he admits. Brice had both ballads and bangers to choose from he had R&B-inflected soul stuff, poppier tracks and solid country gold. Even more so in this scenario, because the 15-song track list of Hey World is so diverse. That’s the roots of who I am.”įor any artist, it can be difficult to boil down the essence of what makes a song their quintessential type of song.
If I had to write one…type of song for the rest of my life, it would be this kind of song, because that’s who I am. “I can even tell you that personally, this is my favorite song on the record. And that is this song,” the singer remembers. “They were like, ‘Let’s get back to the most quintessential Lee Brice song that there is. “Even while all I had for a year was the chorus written - I had no verses - I kept going back to it and knew that it was extremely special,” Brice tells Country Now, adding that the final decision to send the song to radio came after his label made a point that stuck with him. That’s why he selected “Memory I Don’t Mess With” - a poignant, pain-soaked heartache ballad - because he’d had faith in the song ever since he wrote it. So when he was selecting his next single off Hey World to send to radio, Brice knew that no matter which one he chose, the songs would have big shoes to fill. Those are “ One of Them Girls,” the uptempo and flirty lead single from the project, and “ I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Brice’s duet with Carly Pearce, which Pearce released last year as a single off her self-titled second album. 20), the track list already included two No. Photo Courtesy Lee Brice Photo Courtesy Lee Briceīy the time Lee Brice’s Hey World album dropped on Friday (Nov.
0 kommentar(er)
