Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and platinum-selling artist Hunter Hayes follows up on his recent single, ‘About a Boy’ with an accompanying music video today from his first independently released album, ‘Red Sky,’ due April 21.
‘’‘About a Boy’ is about the challenge of accepting mistakes and confronting regret, while also hoping for someone else’s happiness in moving on,” said Hayes.
In discussing the video, he said, “The process of how this video was made is another example of a great team of creative people all collaborating to create something honest and emotional. It was one of 5 videos filmed at a location where finding the piano was a result of drone footage from a previous video. This whole day was all about letting the lyrics paint the picture while showing the narrator in a space of self reflection.”
Hunter Hayes is an embodiment of the type of musician that embraces change and strives to rewrite the rules. After debuting on the scene with a platinum-certified album, Hayes has charted his own path, moving from his country roots into the genre-bending world that he was destined for on his first independent release in 14 years.
The 15-track album is completed at the highest level of Hunter’s musical career, crafted with memorable melodies and instantly catchy hooks albeit with a top-notch musician’s discerning ear. The album also features the previously released singles with the timeless ballad “Friend,” the upbeat sounds of “Sober” and “Victory,” the emotional growth on “Someone Will,” the introspective “Normal,” and the empowering “Lonely Loves Me.”
“So I was constantly between a rock and a hard place of writing too safe of songs and pushing the boundaries. I don’t think I would be making this type of music had I not been holding off on doing so for so long,” said Hayes.
Hayes collaborated with exceptionally talented pop songwriters who helped craft bold and new tunes, including Kevin Griffin (Taylor Swift, Train, Patrick Droney), Dan Book (Britney Spears, All Time Low), Rollo (Ava Max, Noah Cyrus, BTS), Alex Delicata (Beyoncé, OneRepublic) and Aaron Zuckerman (Alec Benjamin, LANY).
Following a decade of playing by the rules and sticking to country music conventions, Hayes is, at last, doubling down on his ever-searching musical mindset: throwing genre conventions out the window, playing with “all the sounds” he’s influenced by, and, most importantly, trusting himself in his quest to lean into his pop and alternative rock influences. Or, in other words, as Hayes succinctly puts it: “I’m creating my own rules to play by so I don’t have to play by anyone else’s.”
