INTERVIEW: Chase Martin on ‘Levi Denim’ and What She’s Learned Since Moving to Nashville

Chase Martin is a tour-de-force, as her new single ‘Levi Denim‘ proves. Having moved to Nashville at 15 years old, she has grafted in the industry, before being picked up by RECORDS Nashville label (an imprint of Sony Records) and earning the attention of Wide Open Music. Here, we interview Chase about her new single, what she’s learned since moving to Music City and the support she has received so far.

Hello! How are you doing this morning? Congratulations on the new single and all the success it’s been generating!

Oh my gosh thank you. I’m feeling so overwhelmed and just so humbled and grateful. It’s been such a whirlwind few weeks since it’s been released, man I’m just over the moon, I don’t even know.

It’s a nice end to 2020, it’s been a crazy year, so it’s good to end the year on a high note. 

Yeah, you know it gave me something to look forward to and something to remember 2020 in a positive way. Like I said, I’m really grateful for that, a lot of people have had such a weird year, so this definitely kind of made it for me.

How long have you been sat on the single for and why did you choose this song for your big lead-out? 

Yeah, I’ve actually been sitting on this song for a really long time. It was first presented to me probably close to two years ago now. I fell in love with the song as soon as I heard it, it was just so sassy and fun and empowering. It was just everything that I wanted to say and everything that I felt I was. As a songwriter myself, it was one of those things where I didn’t know because I didn’t write the song and did I really want to come out of the gates with a song I didn’t write because I want everyone to know me as a songwriter. It was this back and forth thing, at the end of the day it was just this song that I felt like I would have written and everything I wanted to say with who I am. It was an easy decision.

You’ll have more chances to put out songs you’ve written, so it’s a pretty good thesis statement of who you are…

100%.

For the past few years, you’ve been working with Wide Open Music, who work with some pretty amazing names, so how did you get linked up with them? How does it feel to have them in your corner? 

Oh my gosh, it is just so humbling to be a part of the Wide Open roster, Ash Bowers is my manager and he has just made me the luckiest girl on the face of the earth, seriously, I couldn’t ask for a better manager, I’m just so, so lucky. I remember the first ever meeting that I had with him and it just felt so right. I had him meet my mum pretty much straight after at a little Mexican restaurant downstairs from my apartment building. After that meal, we just both said ‘this feels so right.’ He’s just everything that I was looking for in a manager.

It’s 2020 and it shouldn’t be a thing but it’s great to have someone in your corner as a women in the music industry that you trust and can fight your corner with the music that you want to put out.

100% and that is something that Ash is just so good at, he’s done it with so many artists – male artists, I’ll be his first female. I’m just so excited and I feel so grateful every day.

You’ve moved from Charleston to Nashville, so when did that happen and I guess how much has your music changed, because it’s a big transition to move from Charleston to Nashville – I can’t imagine a place with more talented songwriters in one place.

Oh my gosh, it’s insane. When I was in Charleston, I started playing out in pretty much any bar or restaurant that would give me the opportunity to play a quick set, and so I was playing out for a while before I moved to Nashville, just finding my sound and who I was as an artist and what I wanted to say. It was one of those things, I thought I had it all figured out when I left Charleston and was moving to Nashville. Nashville is one of those places which will humble you really quickly, because you realise ‘wow, I’m the smallest fish ever, in such a large pond. I have a long way to go.’ Truthfully, I was 17 years old when I moved to Nashville and I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted to say, who really does. It was a huge learning experience for me, so I’m grateful that my parents backed me and they gave me every opportunity to try and make this crazy dream happen for myself. 

I didn’t have a back-up plan, this was everything and I was going to fight for it. My mom came behind me in a pretty enormous way and she uprooted her life as well and started coming back and forth to Nashville and being here for me as much as she possibly could. 

That’s the only way to do it, to not have a back-up plan. To do it 100%. 

100%, it was one of those things where my entire life, I worked in school so hard because I wanted to be a neurologist. I went to an art school, so of course I still wanted to be an artist, that was always me, I always loved music but I was also more realistic like ‘oh that’ll never happen.’ I don’t know what hit me when I turned 17, I thought ‘I’ve got to do it, there’s no going back.’ 

It’s been five years since then, do you feel like you’ve had the chance to hone your sound. You’ve released singles before ‘Levi Denim’ but do you feel like now this is your most authentic sound. You’ve got this really cool rock edge in this single, do you think that’s been harnessed over the years?

It’s funny because I’ve been influenced by so many genres, I think so many different artists are these days. I think music is in a really cool place, there’s so many genres coming into country music, so it leaves open a really cool lane that I’m trying to slide on into. When I moved to Nashville, like I said I was trying to experiment and find out who I was and what I wanted to say. Of course, I released different singles in the past, listening to ‘oh, this is who you should be.’ I think that Ash and I worked together for a really long time, trying to figure out what I wanted to say and he gave me the artistic freedom to make sure that it was authentically me, so I’m really grateful for that. ‘Levi Denim’ as well as the other singles that are coming soon after, are just so ‘Chase.’

So can we expect new music in the coming months then?

For sure, I think we’re going to continue down the ‘Levi Denim’ path for some more time, but I definitely have some more singles, definitely maybe an EP in the works. I’m writing all through the holidays as much as I possibly can and just getting ready for the top of the year to hopefully go back in the studio and record some new music. 

Finally, I just wanted to talk to you about the video itself and having Savannah Chrisley be involved. What was the inspiration and the story behind the video?

Yeah, it was funny, we actually recorded a completely different video back in June to be the official music video for ‘Levi Denim.’ It was at the height of quarantine, so we were literally just trying to keep as many people off set as possible. It was really just about me changing my clothes, kind of having that TikTok vibe to it. The week before the single was dropping, I got a call from my manager and he was like ‘hey, emergency meeting in 5.’ I was like ‘did I do something wrong, is the single not coming out? What’s going on?’ He told me that Savannah wanted to be a part of the video and it was just a dream come true. We ended up shooting that video the Wednesday before the Friday it came out, People.com picked up the exclusive of the release, so the poor director had to get it done in about 24 hours. Oh my gosh though, it all turned out to be such a dream, Savannah was such a dream to work with, we had so much in common. We were born like 2 days apart, something like that, and I believe in all that stuff – we’re both Leos. It was such a blast and, like I said, I’m so grateful for everything.

Well we’re so excited for new music, you have such a fresh sound and take on the industry. 

Thank you!

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