Dan + Shay have a close relationship with Kelly Clarkson, the first winner of the reality singing competition American Idol. She collaborated with the duo on their song Keeping Score", which can be found on their 2018 self-titled album. They even received the opportunity to perform the meaningful track with her on the Academy Of Country Music Awards stage in 2019. Stay tuned for future posts with my commentary on the song and their performance of it.
As of 2024, the duo and Clarkson also had something in common. Clarkson has been a coach on The Voice, the popular NBC singing competition for nine seasons. Dan + Shay joined the show as coaches, sitting in the new double chair for season 25 in early 2024. While they did not win, their country artist, Karen Waldrup made it to the finale. Stay tuned for future posts about their first time as coaches on The Voice.
On February 27, 2024, Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, which aired on CBS. Clarkson caught up with the duo on a few topics. Below are some quotes that I transcribed from the interview in a YouTube video.
First, she asked the guys what their experience was like to sit in the double chair on "The Voice" for the first time.
"The double chair is insane," Smyers said. We always say Blake (Shelton) was so big, they just put a divider down; we both sit in it now."
Next, Clarkson revealed that she did not know the duo were separated for four months at the end of 2021 and into 2022. She thought they had been relaxing, not taking time away from the duo for another reason that Smyers would reveal during the interview.
"Being a duo, we say, is the hardest configuration of a group," Smyers said. "You've seen, historically, a lot of duos go their separate ways. It's like a marriage; if you're not going out of your way, if you're not being open with each other, if you're not communicating in real time, things can go separate."
He went on to to tell the talk show host about what happened.
"We finished this tour," Smyers said. We did our first arena headlining run, like sold out Madison Square Garden, all these bucket list things."
Tue duo both knew that tour had many successes, but when it ended, they were both in a not so great place. Smyers revealed how they felt and what he did after returning home from being on the road.
"We walked away and we were just like 'what was it all for?' You're kind of just, you hit this crazy, like, hangover period," Smyers told Clarkson. "I was sitting on the couch for like two weeks, wasn't reaching out to Shay, wasn't thinking about music, wasn't listening to music. and I was like 'something's wrong.' I love music; it's everything to me, you know?"
When Smyers and Mooney got back together after not talking to one another after four months, they made a plan for moving forward.
"So Shay came over to the house and we just made a promise to ourselves to spend more time together," Smyers said. "It changed everything. I feel like we got closer than we ever have and we're just in this new era of gratitude."
Toward the end of the interview, Clarkson asked the duo about their single "Bigger Houses" and how they could relate to it in their own lives. Mooney took the reigns on answering this question.
"This song, it felt like kind of for the first time, like, my personal life and my band life came together," Mooney said. "Those two were so separate for so long because Dan and I were kind of, for awhile, going in different directions and that was, you know, part of the problem. It wasn't you know, that we were fighting, it was just that, you know, we're kind of going here. When we realigned that and kind of got, you know, our thing together again, got it right, it was just like our family life, everything, just came together."
Mooney talked about how he and Smyers had reflected on the way they will look at their successes in a different way in the future.
"We just had to have that moment where we looked around and was like 'man, it doesn't matter all these things you could have; we have three Grammy's, but we could win a hundred, you know?' If that's gonna be your goal, you're always going to be chasing after something, a higher high, you know? This thing that is, is never ending, you know, checkered flag I guess you could say. And for us, there's just like, we have to get back to the real thing that matters; it's like the people that are in our lives, telling those people that we love them and making sure that we are nurturing those relationships and taking stock in all that."
When it came to the lyrics of "Bigger Houses", Mooney told Clarkson that he was able to connect with them, even though he did not help pen the song. The track was written by Smyers, Andy Albert, Jordan Minton, and Jordan Reynolds.
"This is exactly where I am in life right now," Mooney said. "You know, the second verse says 'I can hear the kids making little footsteps running down the hallway upstairs.' And you know, I just put myself in that moment."
Below is Kelly Clarkson's interview with Dan + Shay from The Kelly Clarkson Show YouTube Channel. Enjoy!
Video courtesy of The Kelly Clarkson Show YouTube Channel
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