Dan + Shay stopped by the Bobby Bones Show this week to talk about their song "Bigger Houses," plus Shay performed a few public domain songs for the show's podcast listeners.
While "Bigger Houses" may be the duo's current radio single, the song came in at the 11th hour for their new album. They were looking for the title of the album, so they kept writing songs until they created one, or found one. Dan's good songwriting friend Andy is someone he's known since the beginning of his career, they went through many struggles together. When Andy came to a writing session, he had just bought a house and just had a kid. He was inspired by something Dan's wife Abby said when she visited their new home. Andy and his wife were embarrassed that they hadn't unpacked their new home completely before having visitors over, Abby being one of them, and Abby told them they were "totally fine, no need to apologize, everyone just gets caught up in Bigger Houses." That last line struck a chord with Andy, as did their conversation, so he wrote the majority of that song on his own before handing it off to Dan + Shay. Dan also reminded Bobby that "Bigger Houses" was one of his early favorites after hearing the record. The song has also quickly started meaning a lot to their fans and that's important to them.
The duo has been together a very long time now, Bones asked them how they don't do the same thing all the time when it comes to their music. They admitted it's easier being a duo in that sense because they can bounce things off of each other and get some perspective. Also, they know who they are and the brand they've built, so they know how to push the boundaries without abandoning the core of who they are and what made them. Dan admitted that after "Tequila" blew up in success, they were on different pages when it came to their next single. Dan really wanted their duet with Kelly Clarkson "Keeping Score" to be the next one to radio, but Shay thought "Speechless" should be because of how much he loves to sing the song. Dan was still fighting for "Keeping Score" when the duo played a show with Brett Eldredge in Iowa, and when they took the stage the crowd started singing "Speechless" like crazy back to them after it had only been out three days. That's when Dan finally agreed with Shay on moving forward with making "Speechless" their follow up single. Shay admitted he typically tries to sit back and let things happen, but recognized that sometimes their label doesn't feel the same way they do. They both wanted to push "Tequila," but at the time their label discouraged them after seeing "Road Trippin'" not do well. However, Shay felt as strongly about "Tequila" as he did about "Speechless." He ended up being right in both scenarios.
This year, Dan + Shay are focused on being in the studio and not on the road after a very busy 2024. Especially because Shay has another baby on the way. While in studio, Shay sang some public domain songs for listeners of the podcast including Mary Had A Little Lamb, Hush Little Baby, B.I.N.G.O, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Watch in the interview above!