And we're back with the fantastic SmithField! Check out Part 1 of our interview here first, and read on for details about new music, their favourite artists, the pros & cons of being independent, and more!
Ciara's Country (CC): You’ve just released your latest single Hope You’re Happy – how did that come about?
SmithField (SF): That’s actually a song that we didn’t write, it comes from a frequent co-writer of ours that has written several of our songs with us. It's funny - as an artist, you get a lot of song pitches from different writers over the years, and you log them in a catalogue on your computer. Hope You’re Happy has always been a song that I believed in and thought was a great song. Trey’s fiance actually heard it one day and was like ‘that's a freaking amazing song’. So we called the writer and said we’d like to think about cutting it because it's a great song and I think we can really crush it.
Because all of the songs that we write are so personal, about a life experience, breakup, something with our family, friendship, ups and downs; in order to do an outside song, we have to be able to feel it and relate to it and think of a story that actually goes with that song. I (Jen) had a very personal one for Hope You’re Happy and so for me it almost felt like I wrote that song.
It was kind of a one two punch - Trey brought it back to the surface and then I really connected the dots with it through a story that I felt very personally attached to.
CC: We got new music at the start of this year - does that mean an EP or an album coming sometime soon?
SF: Oh my gosh, we'd love to make an album! We’ve made a couple EPs over the years, but we live in such a singles world now. Personally, I still enjoy listening to a full project, whether that's an EP or an album so that's definitely on the horizon but our plan for this year is to put out singles and new songs about every 10 weeks because we want to keep feeding our fans. We want to have something new for them to check out more often because as we grow, we grow with them.
CC: You know, I'm quite happy with that because you usually have to wait so long to get an album. It’s nice to have a new song more frequently.
SF: Yeah, that's been the strategy we took last year. It's been really cool to see our streaming and fan base grow and have people constantly engaged because we're consistently putting out something new for them to listen to.
CC: Do you know what new singles might be coming up?
SF: We know the next one! It’s called Upstairs. You’re the first person we've ever told that.
CC: I feel honoured! Can we get an insight as to what Upstairs is about?
SF: It’s an extremely personal song. The music industry is, newsflash, very difficult and hard sometimes, so this was one of those honest moments where you slam your fist down on the desk, and say ‘God, where are you?’ This idea just ran through my mind thinking ‘I wish I could just speak to God and have that conversation’, and so this idea came about of him literally being upstairs and being able to walk up there and ask him all the questions that you wish you could have answered.
We always hear ‘we'll just pray to the man upstairs’ so we thought what if he was really there? What if you really came home, kicked off your shoes and left your worries at the door, and there's this place where it's nothing but love and comfort. It's a pretty deep song.
We've never put anything out this deep, but we feel like it really touts our songwriting ability. It's definitely different but we're excited. We're excited to see if it hits or flops, who knows?
CC: I’m going to go with hits! I’ve listened to a lot of country music but that’s a concept I've not heard before.
SF: As an artist, you always want to take risks and try to stay true to who you are. Everybody wants to push you this way and that way and tell you what you need to sound like, so I think it's important to always try to keep your eyes on what you believe in and what you want to say.
CC: I'm looking forward to it. One thing that I absolutely love about festivals like C2C is discovering up-and-coming artists like yourselves, but I also think that one of the best ways to find new artists is to ask people in the industry as well. Are there any underrated artists out there who you think everyone should be listening to?
SF: Oh, geez, I need to think about this because there are a lot! I don't even want to say she’s underrated because she’s definitely making waves, but we were just talking with Alexandra Kay, who’s just crushing it as an independent artist. She should be signed with mega hits by now.
I've always thought that our buddy Adam Hambrick was pretty amazing. Ryan Kinder (check out my interview with Ryan here!) too.
CC: Here’s hoping you’ll all be on the C2C lineup for next year!
SF: In the arena, right? (laughs)
CC: 100%! Okay, I have one more question for you – what is one question you've never been asked in an interview but would love to be?
SF: Oh wow, that's a great question. I would say something about being an independent artist? Because I feel like that’s an important part of our story.
CC: What are the best and worst things about being independent artists?
SF: Oh, man, there are pros and cons to it. Some of the cons are that, especially in country music, we're so focused on country radio which is dominated by major labels. It's sometimes really hard to compete as an artist, even if you’re heavily consumed streaming wise, you don't get the bigger slots because the bigger label artists do.
It's harder to get opportunities. But then when you do get those opportunities, you know you earned it. Nobody pulled a favour for you. We had to earn our spot at C2C - I'm sure there are some people here that had just heard about it this year and got the slot and it's no big deal for them, but for us, trying to come out here for five years and being independent, we’re so grateful for it.
In terms of pros, I think that it's wonderful to be able to put out music that you really believe in at any point in time that you want to. A lot of people don't understand that label artists do not own their music, whereas we own 100% of everything that we release, and so it's almost like our fans are extra special to us because they are literally directly supporting us.
When you go and consume, stream or download a song from someone on a label, a lot of fans don't realise that that money is going to the label, not to the artist; but every time you support our music, come to a show, stream anything, you're directly supporting our dreams.
CC: Amazing! I’ve loved your honesty in today's interview and I loved chatting with you. Thank you both so much for your time.
SF: Thank you so much!
What a joy! Thanks to Jennifer & Trey for joining me :) More interviews coming soon - stay tuned to @CiarasCountry to be the first to know when they're posted!
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