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