ABC/Image Group LADan + Shay’s new single isn’t quite what you’d expect from a song called “Tequila.”
Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney admit they couldn’t resist having a little fun with what their fans were anticipating.
“They pictured this positive, uptempo, feel-good thing,” Dan explains. “And we teased that first. We teased the agave plant, which our fans were like, ‘Oh, the guys like dogs and animal rescue. It’s probably like a puppy’s paw or something.’ We fed into it. We’re like, ‘Yeah, maybe it is,’ you know. We left it ambiguous.”
“And then we teased the title and we let that live by itself for awhile,” he continues, “and people were like expecting this crazy thing. And then we teased those piano chords in like a little social media video. And our fans didn’t know what to think.”
In reality, “Tequila” turned out to be a ballad about being reminded of lost love. Even though it defied fans’ expectations, Dan says feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“You know we were so proud of the song for so long, but you never know what the fans are going to think. They could be like, ‘This is the worst thing I’ve ever heard!’ But the response has been incredible so far, and we’ve been refreshing the iTunes chart. I think we’re at #3 right now, so two more spots to go,” Dan said on Wednesday.
“Tequila” is the lead single from what the duo is called Dan + Shay 3.0, their forthcoming third record.
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