The past month of social distancing amidst the spread of COVID-19 has, undoubtedly, been an unprecedented situation for everyone around the world- difficult, stressful, and a financial burden for even those lucky enough to be healthy, and beyond tragic for those who’ve suffered illness or lost loved ones. Like many segments of industry affected, musicians and other creatives, rendered without the ability to perform live, to collaborate with others in person, to operate in a full business capacity behind the scenes, especially here in Nashville, have been working hard to adapt and make the best of our current reality, and through live-streams and digital concerts, online merch sales, digital releases, and more, they’ve been doing an inspired job.
Though not the first artist we’ve seen record a new single in quarantine, local indie pop singer-songwriter Bre Kennedy just took an unbelievably collaborative approach for someone stuck at home with her latest, “Feel It All,” recruiting her band one friends to all record their own respective parts at home, bringing to life a song penned last year with absolutely stunning effect (we honestly never would’ve guessed this was recorded in such a remote way if we didn’t know otherwise- ah, the marvels of modern technology). To make the process all the more special, Bre and friends documented the process on webcams and iPhones, with Kennedy recruiting regular collaborator Jason Lee Denton to help craft a music video for the track (along with artwork and photos, like the one above, from Aliegh Shields Denton) using behind the scenes and home-shot footage. And, today, to coincide with the single’s official release, we’re beyond thrilled to bring you an exclusive premiere of the video!
“I wrote ‘Feel It All’ last year in a write with Petey Martin,” Bre explains. “After I wrote it, I knew I wanted to eventually rework it for my artist project, I just didn’t know when. I had a dream a few weeks before quarantine happened, that my band and I recorded the song, more piano-driven and obviously, the next few weeks would turn into the nightmare that is COVID-19 and I would be in lockdown in my apartment, away from my band, away from my friends with nothing else to do but create from home. SO I called my band and asked my band and said ‘let’s pass this session around and create ‘Feel It All’ from our own homes during this lockdown and take footage to remember this crazy time.’ And we did! We made a whole song, demoed, produced, mixed all from our own home studios. It was a cool experiment and ultimately gave me hope and something to work towards in this dark time. The song is about realizing that I’d rather feel something, even if it’s heavy, hurts, or hard to feel, than nothing at all. Life’s hard sometimes, sometimes it feels like the world is on fire and there’s nothing I can do but FEEL THAT… and that’s okay.”
Written by Bre Kennedy and Petey Martin, and produced and created by Kennedy, Kyle Dreaden, Jake Finch, Collin Pastore, Andrew Brown, Matt Koziol, and Hadley Kennary, with mixing and mastering by Kyle Dreaden, “Fell It All” feels like a logical epilogue to Bre’s excellent recent sophomore EP, Twenty Something (a followup to last year’s stunning debut, Jealous of Birds). With her powerful voice and sweeping, contemporary yet timeless indie pop style, along with a penchant for earnest, resonant, vulnerable, and emotionally nuanced songwriting, Bre Kennedy has fast become one of the most essential rising singer-songwriters in Nashville’s robust pop scene, and with her latest, a lovely addition to your quarantine playlists, especially with its timely thematic message, she’s only further cementing that status.
Watch Bre’s wonderfully home-shot and collaborative new video for “Fell It All” below, tune into Exit/In Instagram Live today, April 17, at 7 p.m. to watch Bre premiere the single, and keep an eye out for new music, including an in-the-works debut full-length, soon!
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