After a controversial year – country music trio Lady A has broken their silence about the internal battle they faced while rebranding during the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
The award-winning trio recently released their heavy and emotion-driven record What A Song Can Do (Chapter One) on Friday, June 25. The seven-track collection uncovers the highs and lows the band has tackled within 2020. However, if music-goers decode each ballad, they will learn who Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood, and Charles Kelley are at their very core.
‘What A Song Can Do (Chapter One)’ is a nod to the power of music that lives in all of us. These 7 songs are pages from our journals from the last year where we spent time reflecting on ourselves, loving on our families and dreaming about all of life’s incredible experiences. pic.twitter.com/Mt04NBIqU3
— Lady A (@ladya) June 25, 2021
It was the death of George Floyd that sparked the conversation of racial inequality and police brutality within our country. Social justice advocates came out of the woodworks to use their voices to demand change and protest for what’s right. In contrast, others turned to educational resources to learn or even reevaluate their previous actions.
This was when Lady A became the driving force within the country music scene and took immediate action, once they understood the correlation between Lady Antebellum’s name and America’s pre-Civil War history of slavery.
In true songwriter fashion, the co-ed trio took their transformative experience and turned it into a heartfelt track for What A Song Can Do (Chapter One). Celeb Secrets Country host, Tiffany Goldstein virtually sat down with the multi-platinum group to discuss the underlining meaning behind ‘Talk Of This Town.’
“‘Talk Of This Town,’ obviously, is about a small town or a relationship,” says bandmate Charles Kelley during an exclusive CSC interview. “After changing…you know, our name to Lady A and to feel how something got so twisted.”
Kelley continued to share what it was like to be the topic of conversation in a racially insensitive matter. “I never wanted to be in a conversation like this… you felt like you couldn’t defend yourself or tell your side of the story. I think that was the hardest thing…just feeling like your intentions are misunderstood.”
Lady A vocalized that it was a struggle not to make ‘Talk Of This Town‘ about their situation and felt the need to use the power of music to tell their side of the story. “When I listen to that song… I’m like [heavy exhale],” Kelley displayed a sense of weight on his shoulders while sharing the story with Goldstein. “I’m so sick of it being a topic of conversation and not about the music. I think that was such a personal song and kind of tough to write,” he adds.
The three trailblazers penned ‘Talk Of This Town‘ alongside Nicolle Galyon, Hillary Lindsey, and Jordan Reynolds.The harmony-filled record proves that the talented group of musicians used What A Song Can Do to learn, grown, and channel their emotions in order to redefine their purpose within the industry. “We leaned on each other so much…” Charles says. “I think we almost brought ourselves more longevity because of going through what we went through.”
Before the artists could flip to chapter two, the group left their heart and soul on the writing-table in order to carefully craft chapter one. They did not just pull inspiration from their problematic past – but from their family, love of music, joyful memories, rocky relationships, healthy companionships, and good ole cocktail conversations.
“It’s just a lot of material in one place. So, we were thinking…how can we make an emphasis on this batch of songs? Which are basically our diaries of what we all went through in 2020,” explains Dave Haywood about the album writing process.
The group opened up about the strategy of only dropping a small set of songs at a time, as they hope fans will “sink their teeth” into each individual track – while they wait for chapter two to be released in the Fall of 2021.
In the grand scheme of things – when America became woke, Lady A made it their mission to learn, grow, reflect and use their craft to push for positive social change. The negative backlash became a motivator and a creative outlet for the group – to show their listeners that 2020 was a challenging year for everyone and to prove that they weren’t alone during those unprecedented times.
Check out the full interview with the country music trio below and let us know what you think by leaving a reaction below or tweeting us at @celebsecrets.
