Exclusive Interview: Hunter Hayes Hopes You Can Find A Friend ‘In A Song’

If you’re anything like us then, Hunter Hayes has probably soundtracked so many moments of your life with his discography. From ‘Somebody’s Heartbreak’ (which we can’t wait to hear re-recorded) to ‘Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me,’ to the song this interview is largely focused on, ‘In A Song,’ there are so many hits within Hunter’s career.

In the current musical climate where fans are rallying around projects they love more than ever and want to watch the artists they love create in the most authentic way possible, Lost & Found is born. We were lucky enough to get to chat with Hunter about this project, about how it moves his discography forward while acknowledging the past, and about his upcoming album, Evergreen, among other things. Let’s jump in!

Listen to ‘In A Song’ here!

Hi Hunter! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! We are such big fans! To start us off, how would you describe your music to someone who is just tuning in for the first time?
A friend? I say that because so much of the music that I love and has lasted forever for me, are songs that make me feel seen, make me feel heard, and make me feel like there’s a common thread between me and a stranger. My favorite music is music that just lets me know I’m not alone.

And I write about a lot of different things. I don’t write specifically just sad songs. I don’t write specifically about existential crises. I don’t write specifically about love. I write a little bit about all of those things. And I don’t make any specific kind of music only. I make a lot of different kinds of music because I think different songs and different lyrics require different emotions musically. So I like exploring what those emotions sound like, so I play a lot with different genres.

I want my music to make someone else feel less alone. So hopefully my music is a friend. If that’s not too pretentious for me to say, that is the goal. That’s the dream, so I’m just gonna manifest that. Put that out there.

‘In A Song’ (Lost & Found)’ is officially out! How are you feeling with this release?
I’m feeling great. I love the way that this whole thing came together. It’s been such a beautiful story of how this project, this little secret project, turned into something that is something I’m really looking forward to continuing to do. And there could not be a more perfect lyric and song to start with than ‘In A Song,’ because that song captures so much of the spirit of why I’m doing this, and also just why I am the way I am, why I do what I do, and what my music means for me personally. But also what I hope my music can be a part of for someone, you know, helping them find themselves in a song.

Do the nerves of releasing music go away with time in the industry?
Such a great question!

So this is a really interesting question for this song because I’ve already put this song out, right? But, it is a new version. There’s a lot of changes. I mean, I could tell you a thousand things that are different about this song. It might sound the same to some people. And if so, that’s great. So it’s less nerves, but I’ll tell you what’s changed, it’s what I look at! I used to look at numbers, or analytics from the back end of whatever, and the truth is, and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn here there’s a lot of evidence that songs can have a moment whenever they need to. Whenever people need them. There are so many songs that have a moment outside of their designed moment. So in a beautiful way, the world has kind of taken over. The people who listen to music have taken the wheel, they’ve taken the steering wheel they’re in charge of when a song has a moment and how it has a moment, which is just beautiful.

I have a paper airplane tattoo on my arm that says to me, that all you can do is put all of yourself in what you do. We can strategize. We can market. I can do a thousand TikToks and if a song’s not meant to find somebody at that moment then I have to trust that it will, and know that it will, because it always has.

So my nerves have gone away in terms of “I want these numbers” or “I want these analytics,” they’ve turned into “I can’t wait to see how people connect with it” and then listening to people and their stories. You know, meet and greets, or before shows, after shows, all those beautiful places. That’s what I’m looking for, and that’s what I’m hopeful for.

With ‘In A Song’ (Lost & Found)’ this is a re-imagination of a song that’s been out since 2011, what goes into the decision to breathe new life into a song from your earlier discography? 
Let’s get into it!

So I don’t think I’ve said this enough, but this was a fan creation! This was a seed that was planted by my fans, by people who listen to my music and who come to my shows. I got this question a few times in meet and greets in our Q&A’s for VIPs, and at first, I didn’t know what I was allowed to do; I didn’t know how to answer because the contracts in the music industry are wild. And so I didn’t even want to entertain it until I knew the details. And then once I started kind of sinking into the details, I still didn’t have a why, like, I didn’t have a reason to re-record. I didn’t have a reason that made my heart jump yet. And as I started working on Evergreen, the next project, the chance for me to do that and for it to be forward-facing, for it to be part of a lead-up to the next project, and to continue to be a series that kind of gives previews of what’s to come, or gives me a place to sort of touch back on something familiar so that I can show you something new, that excited me, and that became very therapeutic in the way that there are so many little pockets of Evergreen, there’s so many pieces and parts and branches of it. And this kind of became a branch of Evergreen in a way, but it’s listed on its own because I want it to be a series that continues outside of this. And I think it’ll continue to be a series that either extends a project I’m working on or sort of previews a project that I’m working on.

So when it became a preview to the next project in some kind of way, that excited me. And then it became very therapeutic just to go back and have a conversation between my older self and my younger self; that kind of blew my mind.

I‘ve worked on this in secret. And there were other songs that I started on and I had intentions of doing, and then this one finished itself the quickest. And I think this is the perfect way to start this series.

And speaking of your early discography, when you look at the music you’re making now and then look at your self-titled album, what is the biggest difference you can see in yourself as an artist? 
I’m so much more comfortable with myself. So much more comfortable. There’s far less editing. And that’s something that I remember saying on Wild Blue because it very much felt like I was DOING something for the first time. That I was letting myself do things differently, so much less shape-shifting, if you will. So much more just embracing where things are and loving where things are. I again have the people who listen to my music to thank for that; they have really helped me. They’ve given me a reason to embrace things that I previously would not have. There are so many beautiful examples where I did something that I felt was really gutsy and scary and like I shouldn’t be doing this. And then they rewarded the process with embracing, whether it be songs or lyrics or production things; they’ve really encouraged me to continue to pursue that. So that’s, I think, the difference. I’m so much more comfortable and so much more trusting of myself than I have been in the past.

With ‘In A Song’ are we looking at a part of a bigger project or is this a standalone track? 
By now you’ve probably heard this is part of a bigger project. Not only is it part of three songs that are coming out in this series, or at least in this installment of this series, Lost and Found will be a continuing project. I wanted to create a window of time every year where I could go and do this and enjoy the therapeutic process of it. And also, like I said, you know, kind of have fun giving people a glimpse into what’s happening currently, musically or even lyrically, while re-visiting past music.

You’ve been in this industry for over a decade, and have seen the changes that have come with that, what do you think is something that has impacted artists for the better, and what is something that you think has hindered the art form? 
Boy, that’s a conversation to have!

I’ll speak first about what hinders the art form. What I see, and to be fair, as an independent artist, I feel my own version of this, but not to the extent that so many so many other people do. I am astonished at the work ethic that it takes for an artist to write their own music, work on their own production, do their own social media, and stay grounded through the whole process enough so that when they show up on social media, you get to connect with them as a human. And the fact that so many young artists are challenged with how to find this, how to find their version of momentum in all of that has to be challenging. It is challenging for me, in my own way.

And I just so respect the artists who are putting in the work and figuring it out and showing up authentic, being able to show up as the human that they are, speaking about things that they love and care about. And connecting with you like they would if you were meeting them in person for the first time.

And as far as something that has made the industry better, what I was kind of mentioning earlier when we were talking about how people are doing the marketing now. And I don’t mean doing literal marketing. What I mean is they’re finding songs, and they’re letting songs have their moment. It’s become more of a crowd conversation than it is big marketing. And there is so much beauty in that, and that excites me because that just means that stuff people connect with on a real level is gonna transcend, survive longer, and work better. And you’re seeing it in the people who are popping off, as one would say, as the kids are saying, the people who are really exploding; people are accessing that realness inside of them, and people are connecting with that. So I love it. I’m here for it. We’re in an age of energy, and people can read energy instinctually, and we’re learning to trust that. And that is beautiful. That is a new standard that I’m very excited for everyone to set.

Now that ‘In A Song’ has had its narrative continued, is there another song in your discography that you’d love to revisit and give a new life? 
I mean, that folder on my project computer is just full of ideas.

There’s a handful specifically that I’ve started, but god that list of songs is a mile long, because, I also wanted to kind of touch on things that matter. You know, ‘In A Song’ is about finding oneself, ‘Still Fallin’ is a love song and a bit of a manifestation guide for me. Basically saying that I want to be committed to my partner this way. I wanna show gratitude for them, and just remind myself of how lucky I am to be with that person that way.

So yes, ‘Still Fallin’ is the next song from Lost and Found. And then we have ‘Somebody’s Heartbreak’ which to me feels very playful in that I have to be open to getting my heart broken to find something that won’t break me. But it’s part of the process of finding a person and finding whatever version of a relationship you want to be in, it’s about the willingness to show up and know that it could hurt. And that is the beauty of love. That’s, that’s one of the most beautiful parts about finding someone and meeting people. And so, ‘Somebody’s Heartbreak’ felt like a very important part of the theme. So these are all themes that are very prevalent in Evergreen and so I wanted to lyrically represent those things. So that’s the reason that those three got picked.

We had to throw a question in about The Masked Singer, simply because we love the show and loved seeing your talent showcased in that way! Was there something you learned during that process that you’ve taken with you as you’ve continued in your career? 
Well, honestly, to give you a snapshot, this happened right before Covid, I got home on March 1st, and we were wearing masks. Within two weeks, all of my shows got canceled. Within, you know, one week, we were one of the first artists who had to cancel a show and do a live stream, and then we continued to do live streams. So it was a wild time. Also, right before that, a lot of things changed for me; a lot of my team shifted. A lot of big changes happened at the end of 2019 in the most beautiful way. And I got to sort of start in a lot of places with a blank canvas, and I started to assemble the people that I loved working with and kind of rewrite the rules. And the show kind of happened at the same time!

You know, it gave me a chance to be on the West Coast and in beautiful weather at a really cold time of year elsewhere, or at least in Nashville. It gave me the chance to work with different people and try different things, to learn choreography. I found a vocal coach that I absolutely love working with and who totally changed my life. And so we were kind of rewriting the rules as we went during that season. So that’s what I associate the show with, bizarrely, just because with the Masked Singer there is a lot of stuff that happens very fast. And it totally shook up my comfort zone in the best way. So that’s what I remember. It was beautifully chaotic. So I’m really grateful.

Once again, thank you so much, Hunter! Before we let you go, what’s next? What can fans look forward to as we finish off 2024?
Well, Lost and Found has a lot of space this year moving into the end of the year because every song will also have a different version of itself. So there’s the re-records, right? There are the reimagined versions, and then there are acoustic versions. Something I want this year and moving forward is more music.

More often, I make a lot of music, and rather than editing that down to a ten-song album, I’ve always tried to push the envelope, the rules, etc. And so this is us doing that. This is us, you know, trying some new things, doing some new things, and me getting to put out more music more often and more versions of songs. Because songs go through so many different lives when we’re working on them, and they never see the light of day.

I appreciate the opportunity. Thanks for being along for the ride. Evergreen (the upcoming album) is my entire life and my entire personality. Right now, I’ve changed all the decorations in my home to feel more like outside. I’ve got plants everywhere, which is a new thing for me, and I’m enjoying it. There are only two bonsai trees that I don’t know how to keep alive, but everything else is thriving. I’m taking in more nature in this project. It’s a whole project about just manifesting, creating more of what you want in the world, and knowing that you can create it. So I cannot wait to share more of that with you. In the meantime, Lost and Found is our entryway into Evergreen.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HUNTER HAYES:
INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK

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