NEWS
Shaboozey: 'Being on that Beyonce album, having two songs on there, that was crazy'
6 d
Rebecca Judd sits down with Shaboozey for an in-depth interview on his recent trip to the UK. The two discuss Shaboozey's worldwide smash hit A Bar Song (Tipsy), why he started making country music and his favourite moments of his breakout year. Shaboozey also talked about his recent headline show at C2C Festival, what it was like working with Beyoncé on Cowboy Carter, his dream collaborations and working with the 2025 BRIT Awards Rising Star, Myles Smith on a new track, due for release this Friday.
Shaboozey on why he thinks A Bar Song (Tipsy) connected with people…
I think when you listen to the song, it definitely has that emotion in there. People can relate to that. You my baby, one of Birkin, she's been telling me all night long, it's a different take or play on a flex. It's like she wants this thing, I can't get it to her. Usually people will be like, I can buy you a bag, baby. I can take you here. I can take you out to New York. I can give you to the world. I'm like, I can't give you the world. But I can go buy, you know what I mean? A couple shots with the boys and not think about this thing you just asked me for!
Yeah, it's kind of saying everyone, most people can't live that life or get their girl a Birkin, so it's all those people that are working hard and it's all come to this one spot and just forget it all and have a great time. You know.
Shaboozey on working on Cowboy Carter with Beyonce…
[Rebecca Judd] Were you actually in the studio together for these songs or is it sending over?
[Shaboozey] No, she was so busy. I know how it gets, you want to be locked in and focused when you're finishing your album. I think it was that point where it's like all the songs are done and you want to get the collaboration. So I wasn't able to be in the room with her then, but I was right next door. I ran into Raphael Saadiq and The-Dream, and everybody was in there. Just being in your own room, just super-focused and super just getting it done. So I just went there two days and recorded both those songs and I liked the spaghetti one. I remember when I did spaghetti, I looked at the engineer, I was like, this is crazy. I was like, this is the one right here. I feel like everyone else maybe liked the other one, but I was like, nah, she's going to hear this one and get it. You know what I mean? And I feel like she probably heard it and got it.
[Rebecca Judd] How did you feel when you heard the tracks finalised, mixed, mastered? You knew they were both making Cowboy Carter?
[Shaboozey] Feel? Well, I love that they didn't really change anything. Everything I recorded, they kept in there, which I thought was beautiful. I'm really huge on respecting an artist, I think everything I did, they just kept it in there.
Shaboozey on playing C2C Festival in London…
I played a lot of arenas and places recently in the last year, which is crazy to go from playing smaller venues in the United States with 250 people and then by the end of the year you're playing in front of 60,000, it's not a very usual jump for a new artist, so it's awesome. It's cool that I was able to get that experience going on the tour with Jelly Roll and the iHeart Festival and so many different spaces where people gave me the opportunity to play in front of thousands of people.
Shaboozey on why he started making country music…
I started making country music without even knowing entirely what it was. I was honestly just trying to make music that represented where I was from in the States. Growing up in Virginia, I tried to make music that felt like the environment that was around me. I started looking into acoustic guitars. Even The Rolling Stones have a song called Sweet Virginia, it's classic and it's them kind of making a country song or their take on a country song. So for me, it was making music that represented my environment and then later on I was like, oh, there are other people that make music like this that were more newer artists like Zach Bryan and Colter Wall, and there's just so many bands and so many groups of people that are making this in today's era, and it was just really inspiring to see that there are people that continue to pay homage or pay tribute to those classic artists that we grew up listening to.
Shaboozey on writing his first country song…
I remember it was in Virginia. It's about maybe 2015 or 2014. I was kind of just experimenting, just being an artist and I had my friend and I went to his house. He lived in Fredericksburg or Stafford and he had a banjo, and that was my first time ever seeing a banjo in person. And he starts playing and I was like, that is hard. I was like, that's so cool. Let's play it. Let's make a song. So then he started playing the banjo and I just started writing a song. It was a little bit funny. It was more comedic than it was serious, you know what I mean? But it was still, that was my first time being like, oh, I feel joy from making a song like this. It was different and it still had elements of hip hop in it. There was still the 808, the banjo. We had a slide guitar. It was really cool.
The song was called Boozey Gone Nashville too. I hadn't even been to Nashville at that time. That's Virginia. You just make songs about where you want to.. like places you want to see, but you don't have the money or the means or the freedom to go check out the rest of the world, but you're just like, man, one day I'm going to Nashville.
Shaboozey on his favourite moments of last year…
I think being on that Beyonce album, having two songs on there, that was crazy.
And then a week later or two weeks later, we put out A Bar Song (Tipsy), and then when Diplo brought me out, my boy, when he brought me out to a stage coach and I saw 60,000 people and they were singing, they were screaming. I was like, the song been out for two days, and I'm like, oh, all 60,000 people here know this song. I was crazy. I think that when that point I was like, oh..
Shaboozey on working with Myles Smith…
It was awesome. He's across the sea, so I appreciate him for one saying yes to the collaboration. We've been talking about making a song, so I feel like the song was very Myles Smith coded. It has such an upbeat energy with a huge chorus. So I felt like it made sense because of when I met him, he was just such a huge supporter and he was just talking about how he feels like so many people in UK, I mean especially black kids in UK, are picking up the guitar because of the music that me and him are making. And I just loved how respectful and how much admiration he had for me, and then vice versa to him. Anytime I see somebody that I respect, I literally lose my mind. It just made all the sense. Honestly, his music seems so familiar too, and it seems like it's so good that you would've thought he'd been making music or he'd been huge forever because the song is just so big. So yeah, I play his song at every show.
Shaboozey on his dream collaborations…
Definitely want to do one with Jelly Roll Love. Love to do one with Jelly Roll, you know, future. I'll say that everywhere. I think future will be a cool one. [Young] Thug. Yeah. I've gotten the chance to meet all of them too. It would be cool to do maybe a country song with Future and Thug together and that'd be pretty cool. It's coming soon. Yeah. I'll put it down.
Shaboozey on why he thinks A Bar Song (Tipsy) connected with people…
I think when you listen to the song, it definitely has that emotion in there. People can relate to that. You my baby, one of Birkin, she's been telling me all night long, it's a different take or play on a flex. It's like she wants this thing, I can't get it to her. Usually people will be like, I can buy you a bag, baby. I can take you here. I can take you out to New York. I can give you to the world. I'm like, I can't give you the world. But I can go buy, you know what I mean? A couple shots with the boys and not think about this thing you just asked me for!
Yeah, it's kind of saying everyone, most people can't live that life or get their girl a Birkin, so it's all those people that are working hard and it's all come to this one spot and just forget it all and have a great time. You know.
Shaboozey on working on Cowboy Carter with Beyonce…
[Rebecca Judd] Were you actually in the studio together for these songs or is it sending over?
[Shaboozey] No, she was so busy. I know how it gets, you want to be locked in and focused when you're finishing your album. I think it was that point where it's like all the songs are done and you want to get the collaboration. So I wasn't able to be in the room with her then, but I was right next door. I ran into Raphael Saadiq and The-Dream, and everybody was in there. Just being in your own room, just super-focused and super just getting it done. So I just went there two days and recorded both those songs and I liked the spaghetti one. I remember when I did spaghetti, I looked at the engineer, I was like, this is crazy. I was like, this is the one right here. I feel like everyone else maybe liked the other one, but I was like, nah, she's going to hear this one and get it. You know what I mean? And I feel like she probably heard it and got it.
[Rebecca Judd] How did you feel when you heard the tracks finalised, mixed, mastered? You knew they were both making Cowboy Carter?
[Shaboozey] Feel? Well, I love that they didn't really change anything. Everything I recorded, they kept in there, which I thought was beautiful. I'm really huge on respecting an artist, I think everything I did, they just kept it in there.
Shaboozey on playing C2C Festival in London…
I played a lot of arenas and places recently in the last year, which is crazy to go from playing smaller venues in the United States with 250 people and then by the end of the year you're playing in front of 60,000, it's not a very usual jump for a new artist, so it's awesome. It's cool that I was able to get that experience going on the tour with Jelly Roll and the iHeart Festival and so many different spaces where people gave me the opportunity to play in front of thousands of people.
Shaboozey on why he started making country music…
I started making country music without even knowing entirely what it was. I was honestly just trying to make music that represented where I was from in the States. Growing up in Virginia, I tried to make music that felt like the environment that was around me. I started looking into acoustic guitars. Even The Rolling Stones have a song called Sweet Virginia, it's classic and it's them kind of making a country song or their take on a country song. So for me, it was making music that represented my environment and then later on I was like, oh, there are other people that make music like this that were more newer artists like Zach Bryan and Colter Wall, and there's just so many bands and so many groups of people that are making this in today's era, and it was just really inspiring to see that there are people that continue to pay homage or pay tribute to those classic artists that we grew up listening to.
Shaboozey on writing his first country song…
I remember it was in Virginia. It's about maybe 2015 or 2014. I was kind of just experimenting, just being an artist and I had my friend and I went to his house. He lived in Fredericksburg or Stafford and he had a banjo, and that was my first time ever seeing a banjo in person. And he starts playing and I was like, that is hard. I was like, that's so cool. Let's play it. Let's make a song. So then he started playing the banjo and I just started writing a song. It was a little bit funny. It was more comedic than it was serious, you know what I mean? But it was still, that was my first time being like, oh, I feel joy from making a song like this. It was different and it still had elements of hip hop in it. There was still the 808, the banjo. We had a slide guitar. It was really cool.
The song was called Boozey Gone Nashville too. I hadn't even been to Nashville at that time. That's Virginia. You just make songs about where you want to.. like places you want to see, but you don't have the money or the means or the freedom to go check out the rest of the world, but you're just like, man, one day I'm going to Nashville.
Shaboozey on his favourite moments of last year…
I think being on that Beyonce album, having two songs on there, that was crazy.
And then a week later or two weeks later, we put out A Bar Song (Tipsy), and then when Diplo brought me out, my boy, when he brought me out to a stage coach and I saw 60,000 people and they were singing, they were screaming. I was like, the song been out for two days, and I'm like, oh, all 60,000 people here know this song. I was crazy. I think that when that point I was like, oh..
Shaboozey on working with Myles Smith…
It was awesome. He's across the sea, so I appreciate him for one saying yes to the collaboration. We've been talking about making a song, so I feel like the song was very Myles Smith coded. It has such an upbeat energy with a huge chorus. So I felt like it made sense because of when I met him, he was just such a huge supporter and he was just talking about how he feels like so many people in UK, I mean especially black kids in UK, are picking up the guitar because of the music that me and him are making. And I just loved how respectful and how much admiration he had for me, and then vice versa to him. Anytime I see somebody that I respect, I literally lose my mind. It just made all the sense. Honestly, his music seems so familiar too, and it seems like it's so good that you would've thought he'd been making music or he'd been huge forever because the song is just so big. So yeah, I play his song at every show.
Definitely want to do one with Jelly Roll Love. Love to do one with Jelly Roll, you know, future. I'll say that everywhere. I think future will be a cool one. [Young] Thug. Yeah. I've gotten the chance to meet all of them too. It would be cool to do maybe a country song with Future and Thug together and that'd be pretty cool. It's coming soon. Yeah. I'll put it down.
