I Wouldn’t Feel the Need to Hold Your Hand with David Kushner

(upbeat music) - Yo, what's up? Welcome to my favorite lyrics. The podcast where we talk about music lyrics, except when we talk about other stuff. Today we've got a very special guest. He's got a new single called Electrified, that y'all are gonna have to check out. Welcome to the show. - Thank you. - David Kushner. - Thank you. How are you doing? - I'm doing good, man. I like, you know, ask me some questions. - No, man, I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm glad we could catch you while you're in town. - Thanks, yeah. Thanks for having me. - I'm excited to be on here. - For sure, for sure. - You're in LA now, how long you been out there? - I was in LA, yeah. So I recently moved to Nashville. - Oh, work. - Yeah, so a little closer. So I'll be in New York a lot. - Interesting. What's parked the move? - I wanted to buy a house, and I just wanted to save money from California, I guess. - Don't I know it, brother? - Yeah. - Don't I know it, it's somebody else who also liked the owner house that is living in New York just looking at it being like, you're like, yeah, I'm right up to you. - Maybe I'm looking at a different state. Maybe we figure it out. - Maybe I'll go back home to Texas. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah. - Time to spare. - Sure, yeah, yeah. - For sure. - How long have you been in Nashville now? - Two years. - Okay, got you. - As of this month, yeah. So I moved to July of 2024. - Okay, got you. - Yeah, so I was in-- - Okay, so I was in-- - I was in LA for like two years. - Okay. - Lived with roommates and then lived by myself at the end of my stay there, so. - Gotcha. - Yeah. How do you like Nashville so far? - I love it. Yeah, it's great. It's, yeah, it feels more like home for me. - Yeah. - Yeah, I think I crave more of the quiet, like kind of live outside of the city vibe. You know, that's why I kind of like Williamsburg more when, I was just with there with my manager, kind of gave that outside of the city vibe. But yeah, I love it. It feels like home and I've made a lot of new friends. And yeah, it's cool. Are we gonna hear any, are we gonna hear any country influence now that you're in Nashville, are we gonna hear a little twang in there? - Yeah, exactly. - In the tracks before. - Hey, all today the kids are coming out with my new album. - Oh, come on, little country pivot. - What's going on? I don't like this guy. You're like, "Yeah, are you there?" - With your relationship with country music at all, did you grow up on it in any way? - No, I don't have any deeper relationship with it. My sisters though loved it and I would drive them back and forth from Illinois to Wisconsin to this festival called Country Thunder. - Ooh, yeah, Country Thunder. - Yeah, Country Thunder is something I've been around growing up, but that's about it. - Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. - My sisters would dress up in the boots and all the good yeehaw stuff. - You got their yeehaw situation going. - But you were just dropping them off and that was it, were you going to it? - Yeah, no, I wasn't going to it. I had no interest, but they loved country music and her and their girlfriends and all that stuff. - Interesting, yeah. - Okay, okay, and you're from around the Chicago area. - Yeah, outside of Chicago, yeah. - Got you, got you, got you, got you. So what were you listening to who grew up? What was a young David on? - Yeah, so what made me fall in love with music and specifically like lyrics. We had a desktop that my parents bought and I would-- - The family computer. - The family computer. - Come on now. - Exactly, and I loved looking up M&M lyric videos. So I would come home from school, pull up "Till I Collapse" by M&M, and I'd be upstairs in the loft. - Yeah. - "Till I Collapse" spilling these breaths, you know? - No, no, no, don't stop. - Come on, how much you got, I'm curious about how much you got. - Oh my gosh, I would, come on. - "Till I Collapse" spilling these breaths long as you fill it to the day that I draw. - Aw, frick. - It's gone out of my memory now. - Okay, "Till I Collapse" yeah. - Like "Till the roof" comes up and the lights go out and the lights go out and the lights go out. - Can't shut my mouth, yeah. - Oh, that was my favorite part. The hook, the little hook. - Yeah, come on, shut up, shut down need dog. - Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I loved like certain M&M songs, pulled the lyric video and yeah, so hip hop I loved and then I discovered folk music later on and then, you know, different genres of pop and whatever. And yeah, I fell in love with all that, all that stuff. - I got to ask you, you were listening to, you were listening to "Till I Collapse" the M&M song. Were you listening to any other M&M joins during that time? - That was my favorite song for sure. - And what age are you at this point? - I was like nine, like nine, probably turning 10. - I also loved "M&M" when I was that age. - Nice. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - There's something about, there's something about listening to "M&M" at that age that feels like you just know you're not supposed to be doing it. - Yeah. - You know what I'm saying? I remember somebody like burning like the M&M show or like the Marshall Mathers OP, like for me like on a CD and they gave it to me and I would go listen to it like in my, I would go in the closet, in my room and close the door and listen to it and be like, and I'd be like wrapping along to me. - Yeah, you'd be singing everything. No, it was something about like knowing you weren't supposed to be hearing it. Like it felt kind of like rebellious. - Yeah, rebellious, yeah, 100%. - Yeah, that's fire, yeah, M&M is, yeah. Good old days. - You know, M&M if you're listening and we know that you are, thanks. - Thanks, man. - Thanks for starting our rebellion. - Yeah, exactly. Thanks for introducing me to words that I hadn't heard before. When I was in like fourth grade. - Yes. - I appreciate that. Shout out, shout out. - You know, in hindsight, a little bit scared. Like if my parents would have found out that would have been like, "Hey man, you got it." - Yeah. - They would have told me not to listen to it and they would have been right. - Yeah. - You know what I'm saying, but I'm glad I had it. - Exactly. - And then you said you said you got into folk and pop. - Yeah. - Where some of you were like pop people when you were grown up. - Yeah, I would say, I mean, classic Justin Bieber, Sean Mendes. - Of course. - And what era of Bieber was this? At what point did you find him? Was this like early on purple sneakers swoopy haircut? - Yeah, so I copied the shoes. - Yeah, it was the TK society. I think is what those shoes are. - That sounds right. - Yeah, so I wanted them for Christmas. My parents ordered them and yeah. Like I loved that like Velcro strap. - High, high shoe. - High, high shoe. - They hit you about in the cap. - Yes. - Oh, and I'm having a memory. I wore them to school and my friend Michael, he would make fun of me and say bro, what the hell are those moon boots? - Yeah. - Where did you get these moon boots? - Hey Michael, if you're listening and we know that you are, come up with something better. - Yeah, come up with something. - Michael, be more original with the kind of insults that you throwing out. I don't know where you are today, but I hope you're more creative than you were at that time in your life. - But yeah, loved those high sneakers and were you at any point doing any sort of dance moves like Bieber? Did you ever? - I don't think I tried that. - Did you ever have a sideways moon walk type of situation like what he was doing? - I have tried the moon walk. - Of course. - Yeah. - That's just part of being a human being. - Yeah. - I remember you ever tried a moon walk? - Always. - My man over the loaves. - Yeah. - He might have a moon walk this morning. - Exactly. - Carmen, you ever tried a moon walk? - Every day. - Every day. - Every day. - Okay, there's a ritual. - It's a ritual. - They're committed to it in a different way, but yeah, I think that's maybe one of the things that unites us all as Americans and as human beings. At some point, we all got in front of the mirror in some socks and we attempted to moon walk. And we worked on it for quite some time. And some of us were brave enough to bring it out in front of our friends and some of our friends said, "Hey, don't do that anymore." - Yeah, they're like, "Yeah, we'll cut it out." - Yeah, they said, "Cut it out." - They said, "You don't got it now." And then some of us pushed through and figured out how to do it and some of us gave up forever. - Yeah, I think that might have been you and I. - Exactly. - Yeah, I thought that was you and I for sure. Yeah, I'd bust out the socks on the wood floor. - Of course. - And I would just walk your hard grind, bro. - Yeah, come on, I was grinding. - Come on. - You got to. - Yeah. - Do you think at any point, present day musically, you think you're busting out any dance moves? - Probably not. - Okay. - What's the closest you've ever gotten to a dance move on stage? - Probably like a little frat flick of the wrist. - Frat flick, I'm not familiar with the, okay, frat flick, it's like this. - Yeah, exactly. - So it also feels like way. - Yeah, you just go it. - Okay, it's a little bit of that. - Yeah. - It also feels like what M&M is doing and lose yourself. - Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn. - That might be where it came from, bro. - It all starts at M&M. - Yeah. - People don't want to talk about what he got going on. - Thank you. - Whoa, yeah, thank you. It's, yeah. - But, yeah, go ahead. - But yeah, no, yeah, not much, you know, my music is so emotional and deep and sad. I don't, there's a couple like live renditions where my guitarist will bust out like a guitar solo and it's like kind of make it more rock in a way. And, you know, all kind of like throw my head a little bit or, but that's about it, yeah. But, yeah, I think dancing is sick. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe one day. (laughing) - Would you ever consider bringing dancers with you? - I was gonna mention that, yes. There was actually a video I just saw. It was a viral video of my record daylight and I think it was this group of dancers, they choreographed this beautiful, emotional dance to daylight and it was so cool. And that would be something I would do. Like, if I could have this space to do, even if it's like a one-off exclusive show, with all the dancers like, or it's kind of like ballet, I don't even, yeah, sorry guys, I don't even know like what your dancing specifically is, but it touched myself. - And that's what matters the most. - And that's what matters. - It doesn't matter what the song is called, it matters if it moves you. - Exactly, and you was moved. - I was so moved, it was beautiful. And yeah, so yeah, I would do that for sure. Some like beautiful emotional dancers in the background while I'm singing or something. - Like Kanye at the VMA is, you know what I'm saying? Where he's got like, you know, where he's got like 30 ballerinas behind him. - Yeah, I got 30. - Yeah, we need, I need some ballerinas, man. I'm excited to see that. One day, when I watch you like on the Grammys or something like that, I'm gonna look and you're gonna have all the ballerinas on it would be like, let's start it on this show. - Yes, exactly. - Let's start it. - Yes, exactly. - I want y'all to circle back in that moment. - Yeah. - Just know that it happened on my favorite lyrics. - Yes, it started here. (upbeat music) - You had a song called "Miseral Man" that went really big on TikTok. What's it feel like to have a TikTok hit? - Yeah, it's amazing. - And did you see it coming? - Yeah. No, I really didn't. That was during the time where I was, like so I started posting more like influencer kind of niche stuff on social media as kind of how my following started. But I always started with music. In fact, you could like find my old TikTok account where I was posting like covers and singing videos. And then I abandoned that account 'cause I like quit. And then I created a new account a couple months later. - What kind of covers were you doing? - Yeah, like Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber. There was one song that I love. It's called "A Drop in the Ocean." - Okay. - And yeah, it's like a drop in the ocean. - Who's this by? I don't know if you know it. - Oh, Carmen knows it. - Yeah, you know it. - It's like Ron Pope. - Yeah, Ron Pope, yeah. - Right off the top. - Let's go. - Yeah, she said, yeah, I don't know. It's somebody like Ron Pope. - 2008, his second album. - Let's go. - It was about his fans. She knows everything. - Yeah, I mean, through research department. - Yeah, certain songs like that. - Okay. - And yeah, a lot of Ed Sheeran record, love Ed Sheeran. He was a huge lyrical influence to me and just loved his storytelling. But yeah, but so to get back to the question of, yeah, how it kind of started. - Also, I just want to say it really quickly. - Yeah, I was like, did you feel it coming and you were like, no, I didn't know it was coming. - Yeah, no. - Okay, and I'm not saying, I'm not saying this is you, but at one point, I want somebody to be like, yeah, I knew that shit was about to pop. I want you to stay next to, next interview you do. I want you to be like, yeah, we was in this, we was in this, yeah, we'll cut that and then take it out, to calm your heart, take that out. - Yeah, exactly. - Next interview I see you do, I want you to be like, no, brother, I was in the studio and I said, we got us one. - Yeah. - We got us one. - I'm shooting from the app court and it's going in. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, I was leaving that influencery niche post, I post a lot of mental health content and faith-based content and I was transitioning to be an artist on TikTok and Instagram and just going to just full on artist mode and posting my songs I was writing and the part in the story is I lost a couple of hundred thousand followers from it because I was trying to re-brand. Yeah, I reached like over a million followers roughly and then I fully went into music because I had spoken to one of my friends who was a music manager that I met and he's saying, "Oh, like you should re-brand to just music and you might lose some followers, you know, but I feel like if you want to be an artist you should fully re-brand and that's just what I did." Yeah, I lost a couple of hundred thousand followers and then posted a couple like older, older songs that aren't on my discography anymore actually. There's some older David Kushner songs and then I eventually worked with a vocal coach and I started learning how to use my baritone, like my low, deeper vocal range and then I wrote "Miservable Man" and it was super different and weird when I wrote it and I didn't know what to think of it and I knew I liked it but it was just so different and then I started posting it, teasing it, doing the whole shabang that artists do nowadays and yeah and nothing happened at first. It's not like it had instant virality stuff that we see nowadays but yeah, it was like after like a month, I posted like a lyric video. It was just the lyrics on the screen and then it like took off and it was like tens of thousands of likes and just started this huge snowball, it was pretty crazy and I was like, didn't know what to think. I was like freaking out. And I'm very curious about when I talk to artists and like their song making process. I know you, I think I know the answer to this but when you're making songs, are you ever sort of thinking like, all right, like this is the one that I want to like be like for everyone or this is one that I feel like I just want to be like more for me, like this is for the album or this is like do you think about it in that sort of way when you're like, yeah, I have like who I'm writing for, like what I'm not really, I have always just written what I like and what feels good. Yeah, I'm kind of, I don't really think that technical about it or I think the why for sure is I love impacting the world one song at a time and like seeing, seeing the impact in the positive damage that my song has done in people's lives and is inspiring and that's definitely what motivates me and just knowing people can identify with art in a certain way and or identify with a singular song and how that speaks to them and changes their perspective on their life or inspires them to write a song like that or because that's what happened to me. And yeah, I would say that it's kind of, I don't really think about it in that way. I just love writing and that's like what I love to do most and I just want to write the best song possible and the most meaningful, you know, piece of art I can is kind of how I think about it. Yeah. And I know you said it's so funny. I was talking on like I do comedy and like I come from that background. I was talking about like the people that made me feel that way, like the people that made me want to make stuff. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And I think 100% as artists, I think we all have that. 100%. Who was that for you? The true song. Was there anybody the true song? And you're like, oh, I want to like, I want to make people feel like how this made me feel. Yeah. 100%. There was. And I've explained it on stage before too, to my fans actually. Yeah. And it was one song. It was this artist named Tom Odell and he makes like very emotional ballads and he has like very deep storytelling ability and songwriting and lyricism. And I was in the car with my mom and I was in sixth grade and that was the first time I ever heard his song. It was called Another Love. And I was looking out the window and my parents were going through like a really hard time. Yeah. My parents were divorced now as a side note. So. Welcome to the club, brother. Yeah, exactly. Come on now. Come on now. We standing together and we stand as strong. Let's go. Children are divorced. Let's go. I was looking out the window. My mom was just taking me to school and but her and my dad were going through a hard time and yeah. And I heard that song. It came on the radio. And it just like hit me so hard and just the stuff he was saying in that song. And I was like crying. I had like my ear buds in as a kid and I was on my iPod, you know, the good old iPod days. I remember. And yeah, that song just like struck a chord within me as a child, I think. And I remember having the thought vividly while I was looking out the window crying of like imagining what it's like to be Tom O'Dell and just like being an artist and like write these songs and like be on the radio and I'm like, wow, that's like so unrealistic. But like that's so cool. Like what a purpose to have in life to like write a song like this and have a six-grader cry in the car looking out the window. And it just really inspired me and I was just thinking about all those things. And yeah, that was definitely the moment that just made me fall in love with the song writing, especially on like the pop side, more emotional song writing and storytelling side. But yeah. Wow. The way that you're describing hearing Tom O'Dell, that's how I felt the first time I heard Fetty Wop. First man to eat their own. Exactly. I'm like, "I'm gonna tell you what I'm saying." I'm like, "Yeah, baby, I said it." "Yeah, baby." You know what I'm saying? "Yeah, baby." You know what I'm saying? "Yeah, baby." "Yeah, baby." "Yeah, baby." You know what I'm saying? "Yeah, baby." It's fire. It's fire. He's amazing. This is. I was in the shower today and literally was like, "Oh, you know what? When I have people who make music on, I need to ask this question more often." What was the first like album that you owned? One of them was so my brother, he loves music. My brother was in a band growing up, so he was a huge influence on music. me as well and he gave me like a smashing pumpkins final yeah I'm trying to think damn that's a cool which one it was it was sick honestly which I still had it one thing I'm learning when I asked this question everybody's first album was cooler than my first album yeah what's your first album it was Nick Cannon's first album Nick Cannon put out an album in 2004 and yeah I got it when I was a child I don't think I've heard of that one yeah and you don't need to you know what I mean it didn't it didn't make a mark it's it's it's an album the lead single had Arkelly on it it was really it was it was it was off the times you know what I mean yeah and my parents let me have it because it didn't have the parental advisory sticker on it they don't want me listening a lot of musical cuss words in it yeah so they they let me that one was the it was the one place that we could find common ground yeah it was that middle ground I probably wanted something else but they said yeah he wanted M&M you know what I'm saying and that was yeah that was just not gonna fly yeah my like Christian household yeah so yeah it was Nick Cannon and yours was smashing pumpkins and yes and that's better that's better I'll just say that that's so that's amazing you can shout out yeah shout out to Nick Cannon Nick wherever you are I hope you're well man yeah I hope you I hope you we need a new project you in your large family I hope are are well I hope you're having a nice time yeah it's like 50 kids he's working he's working towards it if it's not 50 it's definitely it's a number that would probably blow all of our minds yeah you know and I may have names that you've never even considered before names that you'd look at and you'd be like I didn't even know that was possible I didn't even know that name was on the table but but it is I know yeah shout out to the shout out to the whole extended Cannon family yeah everybody in the Nick universe yeah I was Nick Cannon for Halloween once they go so he he he means something to me you know clearly there's a yeah there's a connection between my first album and my Halloween costume clearly he's and drum line have you ever seen drum line before uh-uh go ahead and go ahead and check it out you're you're younger than me so it's like I get why you haven't seen it but I'm gonna say he plays a he plays like a snare drummer who goes to like a call he goes to college I don't know college where like music is really big yeah and yeah he just goes through trials he goes to trials he's he's he's like he's got a hot hit he's got a hot hit because he's like so talented not yet but he doesn't have the discipline that he needs to you know and he like eventually that he thinks that his talent's gonna like overcome everything but eventually he realizes he's got to devote himself that's he's got he's got to vote himself he's got to look inside to be great wow it's a good film that's amazing it's no way it really I'm gonna check it out it really holds up too I'll say I'll say I revisited I revisited drum line maybe like I maybe like three years ago and I saw that movie for the first time when I was like probably eleven years old still it's still really really good that's awesome the scene where they're like battling against the they're the scene where they're battling against the other band and like Nick Cannon's like really feeling himself he starts he like goes face to face with his other drummer he starts drumming on the other drummers drum then they get in like a huge brawl no way yeah and then he dropped the sticks they just go at it yeah they like in the middle of the football field it's a movie about marching band but it makes it cool somehow yeah yeah that's sick and then he had to shave his head as part of like a like a freshman hazing ritual wow Nick Cannon should have been a movie star man he had it he had it sorry this is no it's become now it's become Nick Cannon Warner a lot about Nick Cannon in like three minutes I'm gonna I I have some homework do you remember Jingle up it comes up on this but that this album comes out a lot somehow and you know here we are here we are again Nick got us again yes I think David back to you it backs you I think a lot of your music has a a lot of themes of like faith and I can tell like your faith is very important to you like how how Christian were you growing up yeah what look because I know a level of Christian I was one to ten how Christian were you yeah I it wasn't it wasn't much my my mom was she worked for the salvation army growing up and she was like a what do they call them the it was like a ministry officer or she was some type of officer and so I had a lot of influence from her mainly not not so much my dad but yeah we would kind of like the creaster just go to church on Easter and then Christmas yeah I haven't learned that term like only only recently but yeah just traditionally like we'd go to church for you know the holidays but yeah that that was about it and then until I you know became an adult and started forming what I believed and all that stuff but you found it later yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah didn't really ever like I kind of just you know followed my mom's lead yeah one to church and you know and then formed oh like do I believe in God and like all that stuff so and at what like has your music always incorporated faith in it or was there like a time when you were doing kind of like a different type of thing and then you decided like yeah like when I first started how I mentioned like there's a couple David Kushner songs that they're not on my discography anymore those were just like straight pop songs like not much depth to them it was just like like one of them was titled thank you okay and what were you thankful for in the song um it was it was like thank you for letting me go wish I could hate you it was just like a break up song yeah break up song you know hey thanks for thank you for letting me go down some cold shit you broke up with me you thought I'd be sad actually yeah appreciate you actually thank you good looking out really really like that you did that a lot of people be bummed out post break up I'm looking back like hallelujah I came out on the bread on the brighter side exactly okay that's got exactly out okay thank you that was an early track yeah that was an early track so yeah not much like depth in the storytelling just like yeah can't yeah just more surface level like wish I could hate you thank you sure you let me go like whatever and and I get that that's really traditional pop stuff I would really I would really love it if you're like old discography that hadn't come out was just like strip club music if yeah just like back that thing up on me exactly like stuff like that yeah back that thing up oh you know I like to go to the club on Friday whoa come on that's going up that's going up honestly next David Kushner records I want a triple joints strip club joints we gotta come on let's get two chains involved let's have a conversation producer they sample that come on man that's look these and these are ideas for free I'm not even charging for this yeah but it could be something and I'm also curious about all right so you've had you know you had a big big TikTok record yeah you've got you've got you've got you've got daylight mm-hmm it's also like popped off really yeah on the heels of like having a record that really hits or pops like do you feel any sort of like do you feel any sort of pressure do you feel any sort of like all right well now I need to make another song like that to like keep up or like are you just kind of like all right I'm just going to make what feels right to me and let the chips fall where they may yeah great question I'm thank you so much I thank you I do no I do I felt good about as I was asking I was like wait hold on we kind of got one you know all your questions are great oh this one's amazing it's yeah I feel like the way I've always operated with it is I started writing music like right before all the successful songs that a lot that a lot of people know of it yeah there was no pressure like it was straight love for the game like just love to write and I was just passionate about becoming an amazing writer and then for sure as I had the you know unrealistic instant viral like I had miserable man and then after miserable man I had a song Mr. forgettable that was actually going viral while Mr or while miserable man wasn't even out so I had two songs that were viral simultaneously is like how it started talking shit and and yeah it was crazy I didn't think I would have one nonetheless to at the same time like becoming a trend and people were making videos and people were you know it's that that identity aspect people were like identifying with the song and who is this artist and you know people were caring a lot like who is this art who's singing the song are you being mysterious at this at this point in time yeah I wasn't like I feel like the beginning part of my career I mean even still like I yeah nobody like all of my cover arts like it wasn't me I never like the pictures of myself I actually my miserable man cover art it's a picture of me and my sisters as children and I designed it myself and I put the text on it and everything yeah and so people know like who I was or like what I look like or anything like that and yeah so those two songs happened and then I had a song burn that wasn't viral but it performed really well it's like over a hundred million streams now which is amazing and and then Daylight comes and then I think Daylight was just a different beast of a song for sure that was like my biggest moment I didn't think it could get any bigger in just the the viral world that we live in and yeah definitely after that point I definitely struggled and had moments for sure of like okay now it's like my job and it's like a career now and like anything you don't always have that passion and you know like you did when you first started anything so yeah so that kind of withered and I don't think I fully realized that it withered until I caught myself in the moment like writing one day of just like I was getting so burnt out because I realized I was so focused on like daylight or like I just just all the success I've had it's like oh I need to write a song that beats this yeah but then the question is like define your terms like what do you mean how could you beat a song sure you know I'm saying like how do you yeah how do you make a better song than yeah I feel like that's like a irrelevant or just like making making um I feel like it's yeah just making another hit song it's like how could you say oh this yeah I can talk about it talk about that stuff for days if you get what I'm saying I know exactly yeah I know exactly what you're talking about man because I think I think you know obviously we're in different mediums but I certainly know that feeling of like all right like I started out like doing stand-up yeah start out doing I'm doing like I was doing like open mics and stuff like that and to me I will always say this I never had more fun in my career than when I was like starting out doing those open mics because it's all like fresh and new and like anything feels possible yeah everything's in front of you you're just like everything's thrilling and it's so fun like I'm geeked and then any little thing like I I've talked about this with my buddies a bunch of times like my as my first aspiration was just to get booked on like a local show you know what I'm saying yeah there was just like a show that was like in this like basement at like the University of Texas that's how I grew up in Austin and I just was so excited to do it and when I got booked I was like yes you know what I'm saying yeah and then like you know life goes on and it's like now I've like gotten to a point where I can or I can live off of like the work which is like really awesome but then it does it changes your relationship to it you know it changes your relationship and then you also can get caught up in like oh I just had this career success like but I now do I want to get here do I want to go here and yeah really makes you it makes you look at like oh what did I actually want out of this yeah yeah what what do I want like where I for where I'm at now exactly and I think sometimes chasing like chasing a hit in my experience I think sometimes can take even more fun out of it because you're like you're disconnected from the thing that like made it fun to begin with yeah you never started out being like I well some people do I certainly didn't start out being like oh I want to make the biggest well the big I was just like oh I just like exactly I like being funny and like I'd like to make a living doing it yeah and it's like now I'm doing that so I'm like all right well like if it if it never went any further than it is for me personally I think I'd I'd be like well I made it you know what I'm saying 100% like I did it but sometimes I think if you if you're focused on things that maybe aren't the art I think you can get really kind of lost in the sauce amen you feel me yeah preach no exactly I agree wholeheartedly yeah it but so yeah yeah definitely had moments where and I think I can come from third parties like management and you know you're you're you're you're they always want you to be bigger yeah yeah you're you're representatives and because if you're bigger and if you're bigger their lives get better and you're making money then they're making more money and like so yeah I think there's definitely other external factors outside of yourself that calls it for sure and it and that was definitely part of the case for me too and yeah it can definitely yeah you kind of lose that why like why am I doing this like okay but also what do I want now like I'm I'm now here I've had more success than I thought I could possibly achieve or thought was possible in this industry and it's like do I want to be the biggest of the biggest and just like you know you're just like wanting to climb that ladder and you just want to like which I think there's a healthy medium that be ambitious that's amazing yeah be ambitious but I think it's when you attach your value to you know the attention and stuff that you can really control yeah the stuff that isn't always in our control I feel like you also lose out on a lot of life and like simple pleasures of life and relationships and like so many other things that I mean you're just chasing so many things in your career but yeah I think there's like a healthy balance for sure what do you do for fun I golf a lot okay yes I'm a huge golf enthusiast and yeah it started like two years ago and yeah it's really changed my mental health and has been really good for me on on tour so I'll play 18 holes like every morning yeah did you do that today no not today I've been playing on a week since yeah since being here just doing everything we're doing but I typically play multiple times a week and yeah when I'm on tour to help me get in a routine and because yeah it's easy to have a crazy schedule as an artist on tour and yeah helps me just have a normal routine get up in the morning don't sleep until 1 p.m. I know a lot of you are doing that get your ass up it does it's you know me and my buddy me and my buddy Jose talk about this all the time where it's like anytime we've like been depressed in our lives we're like it sucks that the stuff that gets you out of depression is the exact stuff that everybody tells you to do yeah yeah like it sucks it it's like oh yeah if I like eat better and I like get more sleep and I drink less and I like exercise every day like I will feel better yeah sometimes it's just a hardware issue you know the body and your sleep and eat food that has nutrition in it then start there and see what happens you know sometimes it's not a mental thing you want it to just be you order a cheeseburger and you eat it in the dark exactly yeah that's what you want to get out of it oh yeah 100% yeah pop open a coke and a burger come on but but actually you got to do a bunch of different stuff yeah yeah yeah is there I'm curious about this is there any music that you listen to that people will be surprised by yeah I I had a huge phase where I was in the gym I would used to be like a meathead whoa okay yeah okay not really not really anymore but yeah me and my best friend we used to lift and in high school and I loved like dubstep and hard style sure that's like it's like not it's not punk it's like hardcore yeah the same thing hard style is like EDM oh I don't know what I was thinking about it oh it's not it's not straight up EDM it's like I feel like it's like a mixture of EDM dubstep like drum and bass dude I don't even know okay you would have to listen to it it's like really intense but it like hyped me up I would just dry scoop three hundred milligrams of caffeine oh my god and then put on some hard style and just like Bob my head and I would just have like the craziest pump that music that made me feel like I got kidnapped in Scandinavia no literally saying that made me feel like they yeah yeah it has that like Eastern European yeah I don't know like there's something like they scooped me like I'm like I'm in Russia and they just like pick me up and put me in a van and they turn that on real out were you ever this is like real like festival music were you ever were you a festival kid yeah La Paloza Chicago I would go to every year growing up and yeah loved festivals but yeah yeah that's some like EDC Las Vegas very much that kind of there's one in Dallas that I went to with my friend Sarah when I was nice when I was younger what was it called what do you think of it you know I'll be honest I when I went I wasn't I wasn't sober and I think that helped things for me oh for sure you know me yeah I think if you're if you're down to to get involved with some substances then like I can I can have a good time there yeah all the colors and I'm sure it's it was a lot I'm sure it's wild yeah I was I was jumping up and down and sweating a lot yeah so yeah that's that that's I kind of need that to get in into that type of environment I'm like if I'm sober I'm looking around being like how come all these people got them fuzzy boots on he's going on with them boots yeah but yeah that that made it made so what was the one called lights on night there was this festival lights on night that was in Dallas oh cool a couple times shout out shout out my homegirl Sarah nice David you brought us some lyrics today yes you brought us some lyrics to talk about I'm gonna start you here because this is just I think these are some of the funniest ones I want you to tell us or give give the people these lyrics real quick and tell them the the name of the song the artist yeah mystical magical from Benson Boone Moonbeam ice cream taking off your blue jeans yeah dancing at the movies because it feels so mystical magical how that hit you when you heard it I was just trying to understand it Sure, because okay, so do you think are them to the moon beam in the ice cream does that go together like is it is he eating moon Being flavored ice cream or is he eating ice cream under the moon beam is he eating nighttime ice cream? And that's what we still trying to figure out That's we still trying to get to the bottom of and also Yeah, I don't know Also to me it feels like okay if I could guess feels like he's underneath the moon light He's eating ice cream and he's taking off a girlfriend's which is a lot of stuff to do at the same time You know what I'm saying while you trying to you know you and in my mind this is happening in a car Oh, no, he's also dancing at the movies. Yeah, how did the movies get involved? That's what I'm saying. It's like a whole It's like a whole thing. It's like a acid drip. Okay. I don't even know. Okay, okay? Here's my pitch. He's at a drive-in theater Mm-hmm. He's at a drive-in theater. He's in a pickup truck. They brought a little they brought one of them little freezer bags Freezer bags got ice cream in it He eat a couple scoops of the ice cream. He take a little gene off a little couple more scoops Take some more gene off before you know it. They dance and pantsless at the at the theater. Yeah, they watch him foot loose Yeah, you don't have something like that. They watching a movie. They watching you got served you ever seen you got served? Yes, or is that the I'm not the father? That's how that's how I'm like Mori. Is that not the one where like the they figure out not my bad. That was all Wait, what's wait now? I want to know what this is the one where like the dads will like it's the dad and the mom in the courtroom and then the dad's like shaking for the judges Yeah, whatever the judge says about if they're gonna figure out if the child belongs to your Not the father and then the dad just starts weeping because he's happy. He's not the father. Yeah, he starts weeping or he's just you're right This is this is dance related. Yeah, because oftentimes when when these men find out they're not the father They bring out a dance move that you didn't know they were capable of. Yeah, exactly. They're doing a cartwheel. They're doing a black backflip so much so that sometimes I'm like Maybe they got brought on the show because they can do this move. Yeah, it's but yeah That sounds like Mori. Yeah, there's a beautiful compilation that you can find on YouTube of you're not the father Celebrations it's go ahead just go ahead and if you David I want you to look this up also if you're at home go ahead and look up this compilation Mori you are not the father compilation. You're gonna you're gonna have a nice like nine minutes. Yeah, you're gonna have a beautiful time Okay, but um you got served as a movie about It's about dance crews. Mm-hmm. It's about two battling dance crews and they have to like I want to say they have to battle for like a grand prize to like Something you know, there's always like in a dollar amount that they need to like do a thing. Yeah, like somebody sick or something like that And they're like oh like it's through the prize is $3,000 and guess how much it costs for the treatment. Yeah, $3,000 Which is always it was it was like that, but they yeah, they've to dance to save something. Yeah, and How do you ever say incredible film? I'd say I'd say it's worth seeing totally You brought us some more lyrics. This is a lyric that you love. Let's go ahead and let's talk about this one Yeah, this is on our own by Bruno Major. Yeah, this one This one I love the other one I thought was wack those are the words. I don't like Yeah, so this is Bruno Major one of my favorite songwriters. He's just incredible, but his chorus this is from his chorus What if the world is a hopeless place? We're just scared to admit we're alone What if the world is a hopeless place? I'm sorry guys. I'm I am retriggering your depression It's okay. What if the world is a hopeless place and we're on our own. We're on our own that song You need to go listen to that on our own from Bruno Major Yeah, this song I like It was so I weep like the first time I heard it it was so impactful Because I related to it from the perspective of me being a kid because I would think like the same things he thinks And I think if I'm not mistaken Sorry, Bruno, but I think he like grew up Christian Because the whole sentiment of this song is beautiful. It's like a conversation with his mom Where he kind of like goes his own way and he's like questioning his beliefs Or he's like trying to figure out his own faith and like what he believes in like after you die and just like why am I here? What's my purpose like is there a god is there not a god like just all those like big questions that we all think about That's kind of like the story of the song and that climax in the chorus is like Oh, but like what if there is nothing after this like is this place I hope was place like are we here on our own? Is that is the way that I took it and I think that is what the song is about And I would just think about that stuff all the time when I was a kid and It's also like in my music in a way and just the faith aspect about life and Yeah, just really really love these lyrics lyrics. I wish I wrote. Yeah, you know, that's not it's kind of one of those I like that or just songs that songs I wish I wrote. So Beautiful song. I love you Bruno major. You're amazing. Yeah, this is Oh, yeah, this is the first show. This is absolutely. Yeah, it's sad and it's yeah, it's deep. It's a very Very personal song. I'm sure for him. Yeah, personally. I've never been sad before in my life. So I can't I can't see Yeah, wait, let's actually shut this up We don't know when we've never been sad. That's not even an emotion. I can't wait. So I can't really. Yeah, I like to turn on fatty. Wow Baby won't you come Come on now it still goes up all these years later Um, and you brought us another you brought us another joint a binson boon. Oh Oh, no, okay. No, no, sorry. This is from this from Jason is bill not from not from binson boon. Oh Oh, is that the third lyric? You're good. I'm like damn to binson. I'm like, that's okay. You going up on binson. Oh, okay. Give this one to the people Um, so yeah, this one's Again, like lyrics wish I wish I wrote type thing if we were vampires from Jason isabel um, and it says Maybe we'll get 40 years together, but one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone If we were vampires and death was a joke, we'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke and laugh at all the lovers and their plans I wouldn't feel the need to hold to yeah, I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand. So Jason wrote this song This is probably like my number one or number two right now just like favorite songs ever written Um, yeah, I've cried so many times of this song because it's just beautiful. It's essentially him saying like How special love is You know because of our temporary time like on earth and our and our temporary existence our finite existence that we have and He's using the metaphor of you know if vampires were real. It's like if we were all vampires Because vampires live You know thousands of years are like whatever. They know they essentially don't die It's like then what would love mean to us? What would What would existence mean to us in all the moments we share with each other and our loved ones and So I thought it's just an amazing metaphor he used Um, or just amazing picture visually if just like hey like baby if me and you were vampires We'd go out and smoke on the sidewalk and we would laugh at all the people that are in love Um, because like me and you don't feel the need to hold each other's hand because we're vampires We live forever. Sure, but all of them are like taking in every moment and they're living life to the fullest and um You know because they realize that they're finite and they only have you know under 100 years to live so That's just one of the greatest songs I think ever written. Wow Yeah, where you around we were around when like emo music was really popping like vans warp to and all that stuff You might have you might I was yeah my girlfriend She loves like emo stuff like that. Yeah, like that like is it like death cab different? That's in that lane, right? That was in percent. Yeah, so like she loved she had like a big phase of that like she loves That that stuff just based on if you like this, I feel like you might also be able to go over there. Yeah I think they've got some joints. There is one song. This is a song called I'll follow you into the dark Yes, that one that's literally what I was just thinking of it's got a very similar. No, it is tone to this I love that's I love that song Okay, I love that song yeah, I'll follow you into the dark. Yeah, that song is you're a real lover at your core Yeah, you're a lover. Yeah, that song is Yeah, that song also so insane. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I just love the Like just the pictures like this that artist can Give is just like it's insane. That's just like Yeah This is really that's beautiful. You're right. That is beautiful songwriting. Yeah, because he has another lyric in there Saying your your your finger nails leaving loves watermark So what he's saying with that is like Like it's it's like the one sexual line in his song is like nails scratching your back That was just like an insane line like a loves watermark is like your nails scratching Your back come on. Yeah, that's crazy songwriting baby welcome to the show welcome Um, and then we also brought some of some of your lyrics, yes, we brought we brought some awesome some David lyrics. Let's go in this building that we wanted to talk about you've got on skin and bones. You've got a fantasized to feel you like a bullet. Yeah, can you tell me break break that down for us. Yeah, like because that really that hit me in a way that I was like, I got it. I got to know about this. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of just like I just want all of you like I'm I'm desiring you fully. Yeah, it's like essentially. Yeah. That's kind of the vibe. - Sure. - But yeah, that was, that was the vibe with that. Yeah, like I just want all of you. That's like, yeah. - Yeah, I see it. And then in daylight, you've gotta tell myself, I won't go there. - Yeah. - But I know that I won't care. - Yeah. - And you're saying, what's the there? What's the there that you're referring to there? - Yeah, so that one is, that one I wrote about a chapter in the Bible is Romans 7. And just like anyone's struggled that they have. And it's kind of like something you know that isn't serving you or has been bad for you or puts you back into your depression or your drug addiction. - Yeah. - You know, like if there's like, you know, a sin that you're struggling with, it's kind of like that push and pull of like, oh, you know, you know, you shouldn't do this. And you know, I don't want to go back in that depression. I don't want to go back to that addiction that I have. And, but it's kind of the human condition is that push and pull of like, you know, we'll do certain things that, you know, we'll know what we probably shouldn't do this, but we just do it anyway, you know, or it feels good. And so like, it's been beautiful. I've had a lot of like, like struggling addicts or recovering addicts, like love that song because it's like, you know, then the chorus, the chorus, oh, I love it and I hate at the same time. It's that push and pull of like, it's just that existential human condition of like, explain, yeah. - There's a song in that vein called Addiction by Kanye. - Yeah. - Like it's an older one from where he's really. - Yeah, I don't even think I've heard that. - He's literally, it's probably like, it's from his first or second album. - Cool. - It's literally just like, the chorus is just, why is everything that's supposed to be bad make me feel so good? - Yeah. - You know what I mean? - Yeah. - All the stuff that I know is bad for me is my favorite stuff. - Yeah, it also reminds me of like a one republic song, of like the, yeah, I forget which song. Ryan's gonna kill me for that. Sorry, Ryan. Yeah, but yeah. - Wait, can I ask you a question? I meant to ask you this earlier, but it's like, do you consider yourself, 'cause you are, you are an artist that makes music about faith. - Yeah, like it's inspired in my lyrics and the storytelling in a way. - Yeah. - Do you feel like, do you consider yourself a Christian artist? - No, I don't. Yeah, there's, that's kind of its own thing. - Yeah, yeah, that's like CCM contemporary Christian music and yeah, and I have a lot of friends in it like, Brandon Lake and a lot of other people like, Cory Asbury is one of my close friends and he's like CCM, like in that worship music space. - Yeah. - But yeah, no, I just consider myself kind of similar to the rapper NF. - I don't know. - Oh, you don't know NF? - NF, no. - Dude, he's checking out. - Let me see what you mean. - He is also one of my favorite and he's also a buddy of mine. He lives in Nashville. - Okay. - And something that he says that I go by is like we're just artists, you know, that happened to be Christian. - Got you. - Yeah, there's always like a conversation around that and stuff that people talk about. But yeah, no, yeah, I'm just in the pop folk alternative, whatever you want to call it category. - And just David, you're just making a David music. - Exactly. - Come on. Before we get out of here, we want a voicemail from a fan. So I'm going to grab these headphones real quick. - Yeah. (upbeat music) - They're like, "Hey David, are you ever gonna collab with Fetty Wap?" - I've been waiting. - Somebody, I guarantee, after this episode comes out. - He's out. - Yeah. - I hit him up. - Bro, he's got time now. - Yeah. - He's got time for sure. - And I also want y'all to know if that ever does happen. Just, it came from here. - Yeah, this is the origin. This is where it started. - All right, let's see what this voicemails got going on. - Hello, Devon and guest, longtime listener and big fan. I just wanted to bring some attention to SZA, an amazing songwriter. One of the songs that has just changed my life is totally my favorite is "Good Days" and the lyrics that I always think about are, "gotta let go of weight, can't keep what's holding me, choose to watch while the world break up and fall on me." All the while, all the weight, my armored feet with a smile. Still want to try, still believe in "Good Days." "Good Days" always sunny inside. Thank you, bye. (laughing) - Sometimes people add context to why the lyric like really hit them in a certain way. This is this letter was like, "Hey, here's the lyrics." - Yeah, that's right. - See, I was waiting for that, yeah, yeah. - No, not at all. Yeah, I mean, no, I mean, it feels like it also feels very in theme with what we were talking about, right? That she's talking about wanting to let go of the things that hold about it. - It's a cool picture, yeah, very vivid picture. How did it hit you, how did that feel to you? - Yeah, I mean to me, I saw like, yeah, like the world is ending kind of vibe, like watching something that you built, like "Burn to the Ground." Yeah, I think that's kind of what goes with the lyric. That sounds like it to me, I've been a Sizzle fan for quite some time, and it's, I just, Sizzle, I just want you to be happy, baby. Sizzle, if you're listening, you know, and we know that you are, I hope it starts to turn around. No, well, sometimes she could just be so sad, which I guess, I guess who can't relate, but yeah, you bitch, shout out to Sizzle. And yeah, David, thank you so much for coming up. - Thank you. - Yeah, I appreciate you. - Yeah, I'll be sure to check out everything David got going on. Go to the shows, you know what I'm saying? Buy a ticket, stream the music, watch the TikToks, do all the stuff. It's a good guy. - Thank you. - Yeah. - David, anything you'd like to say to the people before we get out of here? - Thank you guys, and yeah, just the fans. You guys are the reason that we have the career we have, and yeah, thanks for your endless support and love for music. - Yeah, thanks y'all. Bye guys. - My favorite lyrics is a production by disco nap. If you guys like what you hear, leave a review and tell a homie about the show. And make sure to follow us at my favorite lyrics pod on all social platforms, except for Twitter, we offer that. You can learn more about this week's guest and the my favorite lyrics team by checking out the shows notes. And thank you to the guys that made this show happen. Executive producer Lauren Mandel, producer Carmen Carrigan, our editor, Nicole Lyons. And yeah, you can listen to my favorite lyrics on Spotify. And with Spotify Premium, you get no ad breaks. Check us out on there.