If you can handle any more excitement after all the hubbub surrounding XFactor US’s Season 2 winner Tate Stevens’s signing with RCA Nashville (*ahem*), Tate is now legitimately prepping a new music video/Pepsi ad that will debut during the February 10th broadcoast of the Grammy Awards! Rolling Stone reports:
The X Factor season two winner Tate Stevens is going from one big TV show to another. The country singer will unveil a new track, “Holler If You’re With Me,” as part of a Pepsi clip to debut during the Grammys, with a full music video available online immediately afterward.
“When I won The X Factor, part of the deal was getting to do this video shoot with Pepsi and Syco Music/RCA Nashville. They’ve teamed up to do this video to get America the first look at me,” Stevens told Rolling Stone when we visited him on set in a very windy Simi Valley, California. “The whole concept is just people getting together, having a big bonfire party. That’s the idea – you’re going to a Tate Stevens concert, or party, in the middle of nowhere.”
“Holler If You’re With Me” is written by Jeremy Bussey and Drew Davis. It appears that Drew Davis may be an old friend of Tate Stevens dating back to when Tate fronted a band called The Outlaw Junkies. Tate described Drew as one of his best friends in this tweet back in November.
Check out Jeremy Bussey’s performance of “Holler If You’re With Me” from 2011 (that’s the long-haired Drew Davis jamming alongside him).
Tate stops short of describing “Holler If You’re With Me” as his lead single though, telling Rolling Stone that he favors a song called “Ordinary Angels” as a strong candidate for its message out of the 4 songs he has cut for his debut album so far. “Ordinary Angels” is cowritten by Emily Shackelton, Phil Barton, and Victoria Banks. Check out the songwriter demo:
Tate describes his musical direction as a blend of traditional and contemporary country while also elaborating on his love for 80s hair bands:
“I love George Jones’ music, I love the traditional country music. But I also love Kenny, I like Jason Aldean – I like what they do. I like everything in between. You put your own thing to it and you bring the best of what you can do,” he said. “That’s what I’m gonna try to do. Hopefully it works. You can classify it however you want – it can be George Jones or Kenny Chesney, it’s all country.”
What do you think of the 2 songs Tate has already recorded and his prospects in the country world?
