Dan + Shay were in the middle of a main tour in the arena when COVID-19 closed tours and life in general in March. But as their new single, “Probably Should Go to Bed,” released today (July 31) shows, they have made the most of their time in quarantine.
Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney began the song with co-authors Sean Douglas and Jason Evigan while they were in Los Angeles in January for the Grammy Awards, where they took home their second consecutive trophy for their duo / country group performance.
It wasn’t until the close that they released the song and tested it again for size. The couple finished writing it, and then Smyers, working in their home studio, a spare room that he skillfully converted and calls Abby Road Studio after his wife’s first name and the famous London studio where they recorded the Beatles, produced and they designed the track. He also played all instruments, including piano, drums, bass, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, and strings.
The result is a lush and heartbreaking ballad with a gorgeous arrangement and layered harmonies that pays a debt to The Beatles, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra and, obviously, the groundbreaking Beach Boys album. Pet sounds. Mooney’s towering voices exceed anything he has previously done.
Smyers and Mooney spoke to Billboard about creating the song, the first single from her upcoming album, two days before its release.
It is such a heartbreaking song. How did two happily married men and your co-authors revert to that man mentality that yearns for lost love?
Smyers: I think that is the beauty of writing. It almost allows you to enter the character for as long as that session can last. Also with the beauty of co-writing, you can draw past experiences from various people’s lives to create this. We knew we wanted it to be something situational where someone is struggling with temptation and is helpless against any temptation. In this case, it is someone from whom they cannot stay away.
I think we have all been in that position. The fact that we knew that the message is very easy to relate and direct gave us a platform to be a little more experimental and dress it with a great production and attract many different influences.
How much did they write to you in Los Angeles versus how much was done after the COVID-19 coup?
Mooney We had written a verse and a chorus and maybe a little bit of a second verse also in Los Angeles. [Then] After being in quarantine for a few weeks and after Dan and I knew we were healthy, I went to his house. It was a big problem. We had been in quarantine for so long and we hadn’t really seen or spoken to anyone for obvious reasons. We started playing the piano and fell in love with playing music together again in those first 20 minutes. It felt like there was magic in the room.
We played the song multiple times on soundcheck and we knew we loved the song and the vibe, but it just wasn’t there. Dan started playing the piano and I started playing things, singing random melodies and he had this little beat for a bridge. Probably within the next hour we had that song finished.
[Pre-pandemic], we shift our entire focus to touring and when you go into that mode, you forget the importance of a song. When we returned to that room, we began to remember how everything we do revolves around good music. To move forward, we have to really bring great content. Our fans deserve it, radio deserves it.And so, in fact, we had the time to really think about our music and be able to methodically design a plan and be able to record it however we want. Dan has probably been four days with a single bass drum sound. If this were the last song we released, it won’t be, but if it were, we’d be very proud of it. This is what we have been trying to achieve so far.
How long did it take to reach this agreement? It is very reminiscent of the Beach Boys Pet sounds and Brian Wilson’s way of layering voices.
Smyers: That was the inspiration in all the harmonies. Was Pet sounds All the genius and magic behind it is something I’ve always studied. As we evolved throughout our careers, we really haven’t had a chance to dive into that as much as we would have liked. And this has given us that moment where we have had nothing but free time to really have fun with it and experiment and extract those influences.
There are Sergeant Banda del club Pepper’s Lonely Hearts There, there is some influence from the Queen, some from Prince. All kinds of crazy things and we give it a modern touch.
I was lying on the bus at night while we were driving on the road and one crazy night I bumped into him Pet sounds A cappella vocal tracks and I like to study inside and out and tried to draw inspiration from that. It was having the time and having a home study, which is essentially just the guest room with a mattress leaning against the wall and, with the blankets on the floor, to play and experiment and try different things.
Once I heard Shay start singing his impressive vocal stunts into the microphone, I thought, “We have to do a setup in a production that supports that,” and the voice deserves it. This is why I spent so much time with the sound while being aware of not overdoing the production or playing the instruments too much to interfere with what’s most important. From a fan’s perspective, they just hear, “Wow, that’s a crazy voice.” Shay’s lead vocals are amazing. So everything in there is meant to support that.
Shay, how do you feel singing in concert and trying to play those high notes?
Mooney I feel like I’ve gotten into this corner and I’m going to have to sing it for the rest of my life[[[[laughs]Dan and I started playing and singing all these random things and I felt so inspired and making all these crazy notes. I thought about that later, like, “How the hell am I going to do this live? These are some ridiculously high notes.” It will be stressful every time. But I think we can nail it, especially with Dan giving me confidence like that.
This is a very pop song. Are you concerned about the backlash from country programmers?
Mooney From the beginning, we have had a great relationship with country radio and they have supported us in such a great way. It has been surprising to see how music has evolved and how genre lines have been blurred. And I think they know we are there to stay. We are not trying to stray from the country, we are just trying to write good music. And I think that transcends genres, which is very difficult to do, but we have managed to do it in some now.
We are trying to give you a great song that your listeners want to hear. I think pressing and blurring those lines a bit is good for all formats. We just try to get as many people in the world to listen to our music because we are so proud of it. We spend a lot of time trying to make it great.
The video is also out today. What was it like to record a video in quarantine?
Smyers: Everyone had to be tested for COVID on the road, and there was a COVID compliance officer walking around and making sure there was never a time when people took off their masks. It was crazy, but, you know, it was what we had to do. And I think it felt good to get people back to work. People were eager for that. I think this moment has led us to step back and appreciate, “Hey, we can all make music for a living.” This is incredible. It is a dream come true.”
