Mar 3, 2022

Matt Stell Speaks on Latest Single “Boyfriend Season” and Working with Tenille Arts and

Country singer Matt Stell’s breakout hit was the profoundly moving “Prayed For You;” the song was number one for two weeks and became the only debut single of 2019 to top the country chart. Despite the success of the obvious love song, If you go to the “About” section on Stell’s website, there’s a quote that reads “And if he’s being totally honest with himself, he’s never been one to love a love song.” To that, he states, “I mean there’s a lot of unbelievable love songs but to my ear, when I listen to music, even when I’m happy my songs are still sad. I love that; I love that heaviness to it.”

Stell blames his inclination towards darker soundscapes on growing up in the ‘90s. “It was a lot of that alternative music and then country music has always been pretty emo if you really think about it,” he tells The Nash News. His most recent single, “Boyfriend Season” sort of plays on the idea that Stell doesn’t adore love songs.

“When you break up with someone, there’s always some loose ends,” he exclaims. “I wrote it with some of my good friends here in town and we all kind of took from our experiences and wrote this song about this guy that felt like, you know, that maybe he got the short end of the stick.” Those good friends he co-wrote it with include Seth Ennis, Geoff Warburton, and Zach Abend.“Breakup Season” encapsulates everything a pop-country earworm should be. The lyrics are easily relatable with subtle sass and underlying anger. The standout chorus strikes with an immediately stuck-in-your-head melody as he sings, “So just tell your friends it ain’t boyfriend season / And this summer is your brand new start / Tell ‘em everything happens for a reason / So you don’t have to own this broken heart.”

Photo credit: Matthew Berinato

For the release, Stell prompted fans to send in visuals of themselves living “their best single life” in order to create a fan video to be paired with the single. “It’s always fun to be able to engage in different ways other than just making music. It can make the music matter more,” he tells us about his fanbase. “And I know there’s a lot of folks out there, especially around Valentine’s Day, when it’s like you really notice when you’re single, and it’s okay to be not in a relationship. It’s actually better to be out of a relationship than in a bad one. So we just tried to build some community around that and have a good time with it ‘cause everybody’s been there.”

Although Stell only had two solo releases in 2021, he featured on numerous collaborations with peers in the country genre. He featured on one of Tenille Arts’ singles for her second full-length record Girl to Girl titled “Over You Is You.” “We wrote this song that kind of morphed into something that we could share,” he recalls. “I’ve had the opportunity to play and sing that song with her several times. The first time we ever did it was on the Opry stage together so that was fun. It’s always fun to collaborate with your talented friends and she’s one of them for sure.”

Stell was also invited to sing alongside HARDY and Dierks Bentley for the second installment of HARDY’s HIXTAPE collaborative effort on the song, “Hometown Boys.” He says he was reached out to via text message. “HARDY was like, ‘You wanna be on HIXTAPE Volume 2?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah dude,’” Stell says with excitement. “It’s just cool to be a part of a project with somebody who I think is awesome. He’s obviously a great songwriter, a great artist in his own right.” He then adds on, “And Dierks, I kinda cut my teeth on Dierks Bentley so getting to be a part of a song with those two guys, man, it’s a ton of fun.” Stell is currently working on adding the track into his live set.

Another highlight in Stell’s career over the course of the past year was having one of his songs be recorded by country star and Warner Music Recording Artist Cody Johnson. “Longer Than She Did” was penned by Stell, Eric Paslay, and Paul Sikes; it appeared as track number 11 on Johnson’s 2021 record Human The Double Album. “I moved to town to write songs and I moved to town to write songs with artists that I think are awesome,” Stell states. “I mean Cody’s obviously done it his own way and has success on his own terms and made music that he’s believed in, and to get a chance to write a song for an artist like that, it’s pretty special.” He also mentions that he was impressed by Johnson’s vocal performance on the song and couldn’t have imagined it coming out any other way.

Last year, Stell opened for artists like Miranda Lambert and Old Dominion. He doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon and was recently announced as a part of the lineup for the C2C Festival in Europe. “Firstly I’ve never been to Europe, so I’m excited to go there and experience it,” he explains as he lights up. “From what I’ve heard, country music over there is pretty big so not only do I get to go there and play shows but I also get to go there and watch shows and experience a different culture. I’m curious to see what it’s gonna be like.”

Stell also plans on bringing fans new music. “You’re the first person I’ve talked to after I just left the studio,” he tells me. “Like I said, I’m a songwriter at heart, so making new stuff, that’s always the most fun. I can’t wait to have some stuff to share; it’ll be sooner than later.”

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