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Chris Young Takes New Approach, Will It Work? · Inside Country with Wayne D

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Speaker 1: Wayne Dean Studio with a guy that we haven't caught
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Speaker 1: up with a little while, but we got an amazing
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Speaker 1: reason to because this new music season for Chris Young.
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Speaker 2: Baby, yeah it is, yeah, it is how you feeling
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Speaker 2: about things amazing?
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Speaker 3: Man.
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Speaker 2: You know, first time I really got a chance to
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Speaker 2: be a free agent. I've been at Sony my whole
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Speaker 2: career for almost nineteen years. And my deal was up,
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Speaker 2: and I was like, I'm going to go take meetings.
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Speaker 2: And the very first meeting I went into is with
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Speaker 2: Black River Entertainment, and dude, we had a three hour meeting.
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Speaker 2: I don't have three hour meetings. I'm not a three
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Speaker 2: hour meeting.
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Speaker 3: Guy.
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Speaker 2: They sound horrible, but this one was amazing and I
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Speaker 2: got up and I canceled all my other meetings. I
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Speaker 2: was like, this is where I need to be, this
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Speaker 2: is where I want to be.
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Speaker 1: And how nerve wracking is that. I mean, you're at
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Speaker 1: a point in your career where you've made a lot
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Speaker 1: of great music, You're established in your career, so like you.
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Speaker 3: Have more.
1:01
Speaker 1: Level ground to make decisions. Then maybe the newer artists
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Speaker 1: who's like, I'm going to find something else and it's like,
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Speaker 1: well hang on, but I'd imagine it was still nerve
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Speaker 1: racking to be like, I'm gonna I want to try
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Speaker 1: something different.
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Speaker 2: Uh No, not really, and I mean again, I had
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Speaker 2: several meetings set up with different people, and I called
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Speaker 2: everybody after I walked out of the meeting, was like, Hey,
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Speaker 2: the deal points they offered me are amazing. Nobody's going
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Speaker 2: to match this. They love all the music. I had
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Speaker 2: just an incredible meeting with them. I know a lot
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Speaker 2: of the people that work there from over the years,
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Speaker 2: just in Nashville, and then all the people that I
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Speaker 2: met that I didn't know just really really were invested
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Speaker 2: and we're like, you know, we want you to be
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Speaker 2: the priority here, and it just felt really good and
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Speaker 2: I was just like, Yeah, this is where I'm supposed
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Speaker 2: to be.
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Speaker 1: I'd imagine when you're looking for a new dancing partner,
2:03
Speaker 1: what's more important to you being able to like do
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Speaker 1: things your way the song creation, you know, let them
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Speaker 1: worry about what they do right, but you get to
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Speaker 1: do what you want to say.
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Speaker 2: Oh no, I don't ever let anybody else just worry
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Speaker 2: about it, and I'll pay attention to everything. I'm annoying
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Speaker 2: to a fault with that, But I've always you know,
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Speaker 2: at least after my second record, I've never really had
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Speaker 2: anybody tell me, hey, do you have to do this
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Speaker 2: or we don't want you to do that. Like I've
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Speaker 2: been allowed, you know, a good amount of creative freedom.
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Speaker 2: There's just a different level on it right now with
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Speaker 2: this album.
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Speaker 3: And this process.
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Speaker 2: And you know, I mean most people going first single,
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Speaker 2: new record would not go, you know what, we should
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Speaker 2: do this beautiful.
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Speaker 3: Love song that's a ballad and no one bad deny
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Speaker 3: at it.
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Speaker 2: They were like, we love this song and I love
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Speaker 2: this song. It's called Till the Last Dies, and uh,
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Speaker 2: you know, it's just a really awesome like I mean,
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Speaker 2: it's wedding season. It would work for that. It just
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Speaker 2: works as a way to say I love you to.
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Speaker 3: Somebody in song for him.
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Speaker 2: And the hook of the song got me the very
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Speaker 2: first time I listened to it because it's saying, you know,
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Speaker 2: I bought a dozen roses on the way to you tonight,
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Speaker 2: eleven real ones, one fake one, and I'll love you
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Speaker 2: till the last one dies.
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Speaker 3: I was just like, I've never heard that before.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's one fake one in that. Let's go
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Speaker 2: the bouquet roses that I brought. So although you made
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Speaker 2: fun of me, you're like, oh, you can't give him
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Speaker 2: to the guy.
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Speaker 1: He's like, have you not heard the song? Which I did,
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Speaker 1: and we love it when it. When it comes to
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Speaker 1: where you're at career wise, how important was it to
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Speaker 1: find somebody who was just as passionate Because there's and
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Speaker 1: this isn't me talking about any your label or any
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Speaker 1: specific label, but priorities for record labels are different than
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Speaker 1: priorities for artists, and sometimes artists gets stuck in a
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Speaker 1: holding pattern with I got a new music or I
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Speaker 1: got an album, and they'll say, okay, hey wait because
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Speaker 1: we're gonna push this one and then we'll come back
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Speaker 1: to this one. How important was it to you to
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Speaker 1: find a spot where you can kind of release music
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Speaker 1: the way you want to?
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Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's important for everybody. You said it.
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Speaker 2: You know, nobody wants to be in a position where
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Speaker 2: they feel like they're they're handcuffed or it's not working
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Speaker 2: out for.
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Speaker 3: The label or for the artist.
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Speaker 2: It's it's got to be, you know, a complimentary situation
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Speaker 2: for everybody. And that was one of the things that
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Speaker 2: I just really felt that from the get go.
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Speaker 1: How do you avoid Nashville has become this like music
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Speaker 1: machine where where this newer wave of artists is like
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Speaker 1: I'm putting out a new song every Friday. I'm putting
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Speaker 1: out a seventy five song album every six months.
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Speaker 3: How do you avoid?
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Speaker 1: Like, that's that's great for you, but like, how do
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Speaker 1: you how do you avoid number one, the pressure to
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Speaker 1: do that or or keep up with with the machine
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Speaker 1: aspect of it.
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Speaker 3: Well, there's no pressure there.
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Speaker 2: I think they teach their own I know that there
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Speaker 2: are a lot of people that that would put out,
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Speaker 2: you know, a forty song album every year if they could.
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Speaker 2: I don't know that that works for everybody. I think
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Speaker 2: everybody is a little bit different, and it's not cookie cutter.
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Speaker 2: It's not you know, follow these four steps and you're famous,
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Speaker 2: Like that's that's not or you'll make great music every time.
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Speaker 2: That's just not how music works.
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Speaker 3: It's art.
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Speaker 2: And I think that, you know, maybe that changes over
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Speaker 2: time for certain artists. Maybe it works for one artist
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Speaker 2: but not for another artist. So I don't think there's
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Speaker 2: any pressure from that aspect of it.
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Speaker 3: I know what you're asking, Yeah, but.
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Speaker 2: You know, I wrote four songs this week that I
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Speaker 2: already sang and have demos on That doesn't mean I'm
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Speaker 2: going to put those four songs out every Friday. I
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Speaker 2: still believe in the prospect of, you know, calling down
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Speaker 2: those songs and putting out an album. Maybe it's fourteen
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Speaker 2: or fifteen songs, but having that and then being able
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Speaker 2: to put some songs different places where there's different avenues
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Speaker 2: for them to get attention and it's not just focused
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Speaker 2: on whatever the main single is. But as far as
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Speaker 2: just you know, releasing something every week, I don't know
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Speaker 2: if that works for me.
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Speaker 1: When it comes to the album process, it's so much
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Speaker 1: different than it used to be, because there are there's.
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Speaker 3: Okay, here's my album.
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Speaker 1: May third, here's my album, and then it's like August thirtieth,
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Speaker 1: here's the deluxe edition, where it's you're releasing the album
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Speaker 1: all over again, but there's four new songs. Do you
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Speaker 1: like that or would you rather just keep those songs
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Speaker 1: and put out a new album faster?
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Speaker 3: No?
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Speaker 2: I think you know, there's a way now to do
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Speaker 2: that and really maximize the potential of that of sort
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Speaker 2: of the reminder to people that maybe listen to it
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Speaker 2: a lot when it first came out, and this is
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Speaker 2: their to go back and fall in love with some
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Speaker 2: of those other songs. And then also maybe the first
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Speaker 2: time around, people didn't really gravitate towards the album as
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Speaker 2: a whole. Maybe they weren't paying attention. There's constant, you know,
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Speaker 2: stuff going on. You open your phone, there's eighty seven
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Speaker 2: things trying to get your attention. Yeah, so maybe that
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Speaker 2: grab somebody that heard whatever the first single was and
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Speaker 2: they're like, oh, I really love that song. I wonder
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Speaker 2: what the rest of the album's like. Oh, hey, here's
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Speaker 2: a deluxe that's got four more new songs that you
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Speaker 2: haven't heard yet. So I think that's a valuable tool
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Speaker 2: for sure, what's.
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Speaker 1: The song on this on this past project? That because
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Speaker 1: obviously as an artist who're like top to bottom, hid
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Speaker 1: play let it roll? Like are you're you are? You're
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Speaker 1: very intentional with with the way songs lay out on
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Speaker 1: an album or do you just throw them on?
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Speaker 3: Well, you don't just throw them off. I don't know
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Speaker 3: anybody that does that. Just them in there, let's go
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Speaker 3: alphabetical order. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I do think that there's still an art to having,
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Speaker 2: you know, a list and an order of songs where
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Speaker 2: it does feel cohesive, but also it you know, kind
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Speaker 2: of pulls the listener in and you're gonna go from
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Speaker 2: ballads to tempos on some parts of the record.
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Speaker 3: That's just going to happen.
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Speaker 2: Said, I feel like we're like dissecting the music industry
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Speaker 2: in this conversation as opposed to actually talking about the music.
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Speaker 2: But it's sorry if anybody's listening to this, just like
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Speaker 2: why are they talking about all this stuff? But I
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Speaker 2: think it's still very important, at least to me, when
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Speaker 2: you when you make that album, because even if people
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Speaker 2: just listen to the singles, fine, they listen to singles, or
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Speaker 2: they pick individual songs out that they want to listen
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Speaker 2: to their favorites, but the first listen down, I still
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Speaker 2: listen to an album starts finish.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, is there a song that that, as you your
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Speaker 1: career has grown, you poured so much into that you
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Speaker 1: that maybe if you talk to fans, you'd be like, hey,
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Speaker 1: I appreciate y'all all of these on the album, but
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Speaker 1: like I poured a lot of heart into this one too,
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Speaker 1: like give this one some time as well.
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Speaker 2: I don't know necessarily if there's a song like that.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I think everybody's going to find their favorites. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: you know, so for one person that might be you
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Speaker 2: know what the last number one was. For another person
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Speaker 2: it might be track ten and they're just like, oh
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Speaker 2: this one, this one spoke to me. So And that's
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Speaker 2: why you make an album is because there's some for
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Speaker 2: everybody on there.
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Speaker 1: When it comes to the new song Till the Last
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Speaker 1: One Dies, I'd imagine it's the first offering a bigger
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Speaker 1: project is underway, and I'm not a.
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Speaker 2: No, it's just first single. We're just dropping one at
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Speaker 2: a time. I'll lie about everything. No, I'm about a
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Speaker 2: little over halfway done with the full project.
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Speaker 1: So is it difficult not knowing? Do you know the
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Speaker 1: full album? Like what's going to land on there?
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Speaker 3: M hm? Okay?
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Speaker 1: Why what made this the one that raised its hand
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Speaker 1: like this is going to be first? Because you mentioned
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Speaker 1: like it's a ballad, it's the first one that might
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Speaker 1: really be normal.
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Speaker 2: We actually had it narrowed down to two different songs,
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Speaker 2: and when I say different, they are very different because
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Speaker 2: one of them is the tempo party song called I
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Speaker 2: Didn't come here to Leave that I love and the
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Speaker 2: other one was Till the Last One Dies. And I
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Speaker 2: went back and started looking and actually, my manager, who's
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Speaker 2: sitting over there in the corner on her.
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Speaker 3: Phone, came to me.
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Speaker 2: It was like I just pulled, like the history of
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Speaker 2: the last like six seven singles. You haven't really had
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Speaker 2: a love song ballad that's like could be a first
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Speaker 2: dance at a wedding in a while. I've had things
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Speaker 2: like looking for You that talk about being in love
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Speaker 2: and talk about that the idea of love, or like
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Speaker 2: maybe there's a sexy love song in there, but as
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Speaker 2: far as like a beautiful ballad just a new way
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Speaker 2: to say I love you in song for him, I
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Speaker 2: hadn't done one of those in a while, and so
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Speaker 2: I was like, there's no rule that says I can't
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Speaker 2: put out a ballad first, so I wanted to go
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Speaker 2: with this one.
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Speaker 1: What excites you about the album process or is it
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Speaker 1: different now that you have a new team on the
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Speaker 1: label side. Does that affect any of the creation process for.
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Speaker 2: You as far as the creativity part on my end,
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Speaker 2: not really, But it's it's awesome to see them excited
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Speaker 2: about it and see new ideas getting thrown across the
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Speaker 2: table when we're in meetings and just thinking about stuff.
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Speaker 2: Maybe from a different perspective than I have in the past.
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Speaker 2: It doesn't feel as locked in. It feels like it's
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Speaker 2: a new chapter and everything sort of wide open.
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Speaker 1: Was that part of the appeal to making a change
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Speaker 1: is that, like, I don't want to say it gives
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Speaker 1: you a restart point, but it kind of lets you
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Speaker 1: like put a fresh coat of paint on the hat.
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Speaker 3: I hope not. I don't. I don't know. I don't
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Speaker 3: know if I'm old enough that I need a start, but.
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Speaker 2: I I just think it's definitely.
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Speaker 3: A new chapter.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so to speak, like, it's not taking away anything
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Speaker 2: that I've done in the past, but this is sort
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Speaker 2: of like, Okay, we turned the page. This is all
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Speaker 2: new going forward with a new team and a new
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Speaker 2: vision on it, and they'll both marry together, and you know,
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Speaker 2: all the songs that people love will still be at
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Speaker 2: the shows. But making some new stuff for him is
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Speaker 2: always fun.
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Speaker 1: When when you have this fresh breath of fresh air
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Speaker 1: going into the new album. Is any part of you like, oh,
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Speaker 1: that feels like the last chapter of my music as.
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Speaker 3: You're creating it, or are you like, no, this is
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Speaker 3: I don't look at it like that is me?
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Speaker 1: No?
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Speaker 2: I yeah, I think at this point everybody knows what
12:49
Speaker 2: I sound like, and.
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Speaker 1: So there's no rap songs on the new albums.
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Speaker 2: No, I didn't do that on this particular project. I'm
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Speaker 2: sorry to disappoint you. There's there's no rap songs on
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Speaker 2: this album.
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Speaker 3: Heltho, listen.
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Speaker 1: We support all you do, but that one might stick
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Speaker 1: out a little bit.
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Speaker 3: It's fine.
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Speaker 1: What are you most excited about now with this new
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Speaker 1: music as far as you know, getting it in front
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Speaker 1: of fans?
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Speaker 2: Exactly what you just said, Because I've been living with
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Speaker 2: this stuff for months now, and I'm just ready for
13:21
Speaker 2: this song to be out there. Because I've listened to
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Speaker 2: it a lot. I'm excited about it. Everybody that I've
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Speaker 2: played it for gets excited about it the first time
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Speaker 2: they hear it. I'm just ready for everybody to hear
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Speaker 2: it for the first time.
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Speaker 3: I'm excited.
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Speaker 1: You a buddy of ours that works here at the
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Speaker 1: radio station, Ryan McKitty, Oh yeah, he saw you recently
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Speaker 1: and he's like, Dude, this guy's so excited about this song. Man,
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Speaker 1: more excited than you've been maybe for past singles. You
13:43
Speaker 1: feel that way, I see.
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Speaker 3: I don't like looking at it like that.
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Speaker 2: I think I'm welcome to be like really hyper excited
13:50
Speaker 2: about this project, and that doesn't have any bearing on
13:53
Speaker 2: anything that I've done before. Okay, I just know that
13:56
Speaker 2: I'm excited about this project, this music, and the new label.
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Speaker 3: That's what you're saying. No, babies, No, No, we don't.
14:05
Speaker 3: What's up? What's what's what? Season?
14:06
Speaker 1: Are we looking forward to the album?
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Speaker 3: Like? Are you going to rush to finish it? No?
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Speaker 3: I haven't rushed anything on this project.
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Speaker 2: I think Actually one of the mixes that I just
14:15
Speaker 2: got sent to my inbox this morning is like mixed
14:17
Speaker 2: number nine on this song and it's going and individually
14:22
Speaker 2: tweaking like words and like, hey, we're gonna get like
14:26
Speaker 2: the smallest volume bump up on this one part right
14:30
Speaker 2: here in this section of the song. So I've been
14:34
Speaker 2: very meticulous about it. My buddy Andy Sheridan and me
14:37
Speaker 2: are co producing this whole thing together, and it's just
14:41
Speaker 2: been a really fun process. You know, art's never perfected,
14:46
Speaker 2: it's abandoned.
14:47
Speaker 3: Uh So.
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Speaker 2: I'm just really happy with everything that we've done on
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Speaker 2: it so far. Ready to get the the dates locked
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Speaker 2: in to go in one more time track, a couple
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Speaker 2: more things, sing some stuff, and then it'll be done.
15:02
Speaker 3: Ready to be packaged up.
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Speaker 1: I can't wait, man, Chris Young, I appreciate the time
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Speaker 1: today rather thank you, Thank you, dude,