Jake & Shelby sound familiar? They should. The Nashville-based pop duo has likely graced your TikTok scroll at least once, or twice if you’re a “just checking my For You page real quick” kind of person. But even if you’re more of a “strictly following” lurker, chances are they’ve popped up on your fave’s feed doing something swoon-worthy. Maybe it was their smooth ‘Sway’ moment with Michael Bublé, or perhaps you clocked them as the human equivalent of those musical birthday cards—only instead of a mystery voice crooning when you open it, it’s them, and everyone knows it. Including Kim Kardashian, who tapped the duo to send Khloé a heartfelt serenade. The song? Patti LaBelle’s ‘If Only You Knew.’ Yes, we’re being serious. So it’s only right that their latest single is called ‘YOU DON’T KNOW,’ because, honestly, our crushes still don’t know how deep our obsession with Jake & Shelby runs.
So to get them (and you) tapped in, we spoke with the duo about their latest single, that fangirl-worthy moment with Bublé, and so much more.
Hi, Jake and Shelby— Welcome to the hive. Having a crush can sometimes feel like the worst thing in the world, but you’ve dressed it up in sparkly synths and made it cool again. How did ‘YOU DON’T KNOW’ come to be? Can you walk us through the songwriting process?
‘YOU DON’T KNOW’ actually came pretty naturally! We wrote this one with Joseph Tilley and Tony Ferarri on our first writing trip in LA. We were feeling like writing a sweet, fun song that day, and we felt ready to explore some sounds that were a little outside of our normal. We wrote this song just thinking about how funny and awkward having a crush can be. In the beginning, the main thought we were running with had to do with having so many feelings about someone when they don’t even know. As we got deeper into writing, I ended up singing the lyric “it doesn’t even matter though,” (cause you don’t know). That sort of added another layer that took the pressure off. We think it’s pretty freeing when you realize they don’t even know!
Is there a lyric in ‘YOU DON’T KNOW’ that you’re especially excited to hear shouted back at you during a live show?
Ah, that’s a fun question! Actually, we don’t know, haha! Maybe “but this could be sustainable, something I could really hold” because it mirrors a lyric in ‘Control,’ “caught between the lines, can’t find anything to hold”… but we’d really love to hear them sing back any lyric that becomes special to our fans!
In the music video, you’re giving full bohemian date energy—floral picnic baskets and all. If this song could go on a date with another track in your discography, which would it be, and what would their vibe be?
‘Over You!’ I think both of these fit together really well. ‘Over You’ is the deep desperation of not wanting to let go of someone, and how you’ll never be able to get over them. And ‘YOU DON’T KNOW’ is, of course, the crush. I feel like these two come hand in hand. The more you would come closer to the person, the harder it becomes to potentially let go of them. These two are the hopeless romantics.
The single’s cover shoot is stunning—we’re especially loving the shot with the big flower in Shelby’s hair and the little ones in Jake’s, like a visual metaphor for how one becomes two. What was your favourite part of that shoot?
The location! It was so beautiful. We love the outdoors and being in nature, so it was really great getting to make a whole video outside in a beautiful park. It felt like we were outside of the US! The mountains and the green grass, along with the sunset, were just perfect. We got to enjoy making a fun video as well as enjoying a beautiful day outside 😌
You’ve worked with some heavy hitters—Josh Ronen, who co-wrote Kelly Clarkson’s ‘me,’ and Micah Tawlks, known for his work with COIN. How have collaborators like these helped push you outside your sonic comfort zone?
We are so lucky to work with such amazing collaborators. When making music with anyone, their specific sound becomes a part of what you’re making, so it’s really cool when we get to work with people whose sound we’ve fallen in love with before. They have pushed us by the act of collaborating with us. And we have grown by taking in the parts of their sound that feel authentic to us.
From taking lessons at Cedarstone School of Music together to now sharing the spotlight, what’s something you didn’t know about each other until the pressure cooker of the music industry brought it out?
I don’t know that we have gotten to the point yet where something like this has come up! I think because of how we started making music together and sort of quickly became a duo at the very beginning of our friendship, it’s like we became friends and started working together at the same time. Because of that, we haven’t really run into something in our career that’s brought out different sides of us that we haven’t already seen in each other yet. I think if anything, through working together, we can both see in each other more and more how important it is to us both that we remain authentic and never let other people’s opinions change what or how we create our music. It’s so much more meaningful to us when we know that we’re simply creating and sharing what we love.
‘YOU DON’T KNOW’ pairs perfectly with ‘Loophole’—like two stages of the same crush story. One’s the awkward “do you like me?” phase; the other is the realisation that you do. What’s your Cosmo-style tip for not bolting at the first sign of love?
Well, one of the main things we believe about love is that you should take it a little at a time. Love should always be treated with patience and care.
The king of romantic ballads himself, Michael Bublé, is a fan, stitching your TikTok and even singing with you backstage. How does it feel knowing you’re probably tucked into his Spotify likes somewhere?
Crazy! Michael is such a music icon, and we love what he does! It’s wild to think that he may be listening to us every once in a while.
You’ve become known for your covers. If you had to make a mini-playlist of songs you’ve covered that give pure falling-in-love vibes, which ones would be on it? We’re assuming Taylor Swift’s ‘invisible string’ is already at the top.
For sure! We also love ‘Glue Song,’ ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER,’ ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love,’ ‘Like Real People Do,’ and ‘Begin Again.’
Already eyeing a ‘YOU DON’T KNOW’ lyric to not-so-subtly hint you’ve got heart-eyes for your crush? Test it out on us first—slide it into our DMs on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. We promise we’ll blush appropriately.
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