Can’t Stay Mad (Commentary)

This is Big Machine Radio

I am Becca

So thrilled to be talking to Danielle Bradbury about her new album

I Don't Believe We've Met, it's out

I have already worn this album out

Because fortunately I was lucky enough to get a copy early

So I could prepare to talk to you and stuff

And if you could wear out a digital copy of anything, I think I came close

It is just so good, and I wanted to talk to you about, uhm

I had a chance to read the liner notes from this album

And the last thank you that you put in there, you say

"Last but not the least thanks to all the writers on this album

Thank you for helping me find myself in the process of writing this record

Thank you for being my escape

Thank you for being my sounding board

And thank you for pushing me to be better, a better writer every day

So talk to me about that process of discovering your voice as a writer

And learning to write your story and your truth

That, was it hard for you at first to get that real and that vulnerable?

It was 'cause I didn't have any experience of songwriting before

Uhm, so going into it, I was kind of afraid and nervous

So nervous to go into my first couple of writes 'cause at first I was like

"Oh my god, I had to open up to these people I've never met before

What are they going to think of my secrets that I'm scared to share?"

Or, I mean, 'cause I knew I wanted to share them

'Cause I wanted to talk about the realness and everything and be honest

But at first I was very afraid, and so I would just go along with whatever

And it was more of the learning core of everything in the beginning

And as I met these writers and got in the room with those same writers again

A couple of months or a year later (yeah), it was really cool to just

I mean, learn how they do things and know what they have written

All the way from Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood

And Carrie Underwood's one of my biggest inspirations

And I've been in the room with some of the writers of her biggest songs

And I'm like, "This is insane", and they're all so inspiring

And some of them are like, "Nah, we don't matter, we're just behind everything, whatever"

I'm like, "Uhm, no, y'all have created this song, y'all are the reason the song is born"

And so I give a lot of credit to every songwriter

And especially personally for me just trying to figure out who I am for this next album

They've definitely were a big motivation and an inspiration for all of it

So it was scary at first, but I, I'm starting to get the hang of it now

But I, I, I think I'll always be learning some

Well, I think you have more than gotten the hang of it for sure

But I do know that some people who go in to write songs, and their artists

They don't necessarily know who the song is gonna be for

Whether it's a song they're writing for themselves

Or maybe they're gonna pitch it to somebody else

So did you tend to go into every write thinking

"I am writing for me, for my album"

And wanting to make sure that these were sort of a reflection of your own real life

Or did you just say "I'm just going to write whatever comes out today?"

I think for a while, I think all of us were just like, "OK, we're writing for you

You're the only artist in here, this is going to be a song for you

What are you feeling today? What is on your mind?" and all of that

That was for definitely a while

And I'm getting to the point now where I'm just like

"Let's just write, let's just write about something"

And if I do have something heavy on my mind that day

Then that's what we're going to write about, and it's going to be for me

But I've always had a goal of mine to write for somebody else

So hopefully that day will come, and I'll get to have a cut on another artist's album

And so I love that, hopefully that's coming

But definitely for a while, there was more of just focus on, on my record (yeah)

When I was getting ready for this interview, I started thinking, I'm like

"I know she was in a relationship, but I haven't really seen her on her social media lately"

And so I kinda spent about 30 minutes this weekend stalking you

Trying to figure out I'm like, "Is she still in that?"

And I realized that you were 'cause I saw a few comments here and there

And based on the things that you post on social media

I feel like I kinda know your relationship a little bit

Which made me feel like this next song was probably inspired by a lot of that

It's called Can't Stay Mad (yeah, yeah)

'Cause there seems to be a lot of playfulness

And yet, you know, it's like, "Oh god, I can't stay mad at you"

So talk to me about writing that song and, and just making it sort of a playful

"You aggravate the heck out of me, but god, I can't stay mad"

And you're definitely right about all of that

I've been in a long relationship, and we all have moments

And especially being so young, you're still trying to figure each other out

And so there's not, it's not going to be a smooth ride

And I feel like everybody can vouch for that, so I'm not the only one

And we definitely went through some stuff and I won't go into detail

But we, we went through stuff, and it inspired a lot of things

And then we got through it

And so Can't Stay Mad was actually a song I wrote in Los Angeles

And getting to feel out the writers there and just feel out that feel of everything

And it is different and I, I love writing in LA and I got with these writers

This guy duo called The After Hours and then this girl Steph Jones

And it was my first time writing with all of them

And so I was like, "OK, this is going to be like a fun ride

We're going to fill out each other and everything"

And, but sure enough, Steph Jones had this idea

And she kinda questioned me on my relationship and was like

"So does he like, does he make you mad?

Is he, do you think he's just so cute that you can't?"

And I'm like, "OK, yeah, I'm like, yes", and I got into detail

I'm like, yeah, I we will get in fights, and sometimes he'll just be playful

And try to change my mind, and I'm still aggravated

But I'm like, OK, you're just, you're acting silly and cute

I can't stay mad at you for that much longer

So we had so much fun writing this song and it's true

And so, it's funny when I perform it, sometimes guys will be like

"Can I send this to my wife? Can you sing this to my wife?"

I'm like, "Yeah, I will"

So I love that and so -

"Just a reminder that I'm cute and lovable, and she can't stay mad at me" (yeah)

And, I mean, it can be deep, you get in fights and everything

But it's definitely a fun song to be like, "No, like I still love you"

Yeah, definitely

Well, it's a great song and again, it's another one off of Daniel Bradbury's new album

I Don't Believe We've Met, which I am just obsessed with

This is called Can't Stay Mad on Big Machine Radio