We catch up with Danielle Bradbery to chat about her new single ‘Never Have I Ever,’ recording the music video in quarantine and more. Interview coming to the podcast soon.
Hi, how are you doing? I feel like you’ve been so much more productive than the rest of us in quarantine – your video for ‘Never Have I Ever’ is absolutely stunning.
I’m good – thank you, by the way – it was pretty tough because of everything going on. We had to try and do a music video, but try and just be careful. We managed to do it and I’m so happy that we were able to. There was about five people doing about twenty people’s jobs. They were so great and we made it work, we did it on a beautiful ranch in Austin, Texas and it was just a crazy experience that obviously I will never forget. It turned out to be a lot better than we expected.
I know even your mom was involved, doing all the glam, that must have felt like a real 360 back to the beginning of how it all started, with your mum there.
It really did. I felt like it was all the way back to the beginning because my mum was there with everything in day one. She was my glam girl for this video so it was cool.
The song itself is stunning and I can remember you playing it at the Introducing Nashville show at Cadogan Hall, which feels so long ago now. It’s such a great introduction to the next chapter of your music, so can you bring us back to the writing room and the inspiration behind that song?
Yeah, I co-wrote it here in Nashville with two amazing writers, Laura Veltz and David Hodges and Laura actually had the idea entitled ‘Never Have I Ever.’ We thought that’s super cool, I don’t think we’ve heard a song like that yet and so we sat there and brain-stormed what it could be about for about an hour or two. Then we started getting into relationships and we thought let’s see if this is a relationship song, I started talking about my experiences. Currently, I’m dating somebody and the beginning stages of that is exactly this song, it was out of nowhere, he made me feel like no one else has before and it fit. We kind of highlighted that moment and brought it throughout the song, that’s basically what it’s about, meeting somebody and them making you feel like you’ve never felt before.
Your story started back on ‘The Voice’ and even since then you’ve really transformed with ‘I Don’t Believe We’ve Met’ and now in this next chapter. I feel like your music has gone through such a transformation, so how much do you think that you’ve changed through the past few years musically and in your perspective on songwriting?
Yeah, my music I think changes with the changes I have in my life, as crazy as that sounds. When I write, even if it’s writing or listening to songs I didn’t write, either way I’m trying to channel real feelings and trying to be as honest as possible. That’s exactly what I do and I think each time I put out music it’s maybe a little bit more honest. Musically, it’s probably a little bit braver, especially with ‘Never Have I Ever’ which is a little bit influenced by RnB – a lot of people are shocked by that, a lot of people aren’t.
I remember chatting with you back at Cadogan Hall and talking about how RnB was such a part of your musical roots, so it’s cool to see that coming through now. It sounds like you’ve found your groove and where you want your music to land.
Yeah, I think so too. I’ve been a huge fan of RnB music for a very long time, it is something that I grew up listening to alongside country. What people don’t realise is how much RnB influences country and how long it has, RnB has been in country for a very long time. Older music you can listen to, it’s nothing but RnB, but listed as country. It’s crazy history (laughs) and I think it just goes together. I just kind of emphasised all of that into ‘Never Have I Ever.’ Like you say, I’m definitely finding my groove now.
It’s cool to see. I’m definitely excited for the next round of music, do you know what that’s going to look like yet?
I do have more releases under my belt, we’re definitely in the process of gathering a group of songs for an album or an EP, or whatever that will be. We’re in that direction for sure, and as soon as I know dates and times, we’ll definitely let y’all know.
Thanks Danielle for taking the time to chat!
Thank you.
