Dan + Shay are opening up about their new album, Young. Their sixth studio record, Young includes their current Top 20 single, “Say So,” plus “Marry You Again,” “The Old Guys” with Cody Johnson, the title track, and more.

Dan + Shay’s last hit single, “Bigger Houses,” came out in 2024. That song was the title track of their last album, which was released in 2023. In an era where artists are constantly clamoring for more sales, more streams, and higher chart posititions, neither Dan Smyers nor Shay Mooney focused on any of those thing when creating Young.

“We didn’t make this album for it to be a commercial success,” Smyers tells The Tennessean. “I hope it is our biggest album. We all do. But we can’t control that. We can control the creation and how we feel about the creation and the process and enjoying it, but when I die, I want to look back on this album and be like, ‘I am so proud of that.'”

The Subjects on Dan + Shay’s ‘Young’ Album

Dan + Shay are bravely tackling a wide variety of topics on Young, including with “Say So.” That song was born from the tragic loss of Ben Vaughn, a mentor to them who became instrumental in Smyers and Mooney becoming a duo. But “Say So” isn’t the only thought-provoking song on the project.

“When you hear Dan + Shay’s new album, Young, it’s like, ‘Oh man, I bet they made some summertime feel-good jams,'” Smyers reflects. “But this song’s about dying. This song’s about mental health. This song’s about aging. It’s our heaviest, most serious album. And I think just the juxtaposition of what that word would lead your mind to believe versus what it actually is, just fun.”

Young also includes “Dogs In Our Twenties” and “Her, The Kids, and Jesus,” all deeply personal to both men.

“It’s us in an album,” Mooney says. “The pursuit was never anything specific. It was like, ‘Let’s just look at our lives and write about them.'”

The Story Behind “Say So” by Dan + Shay

Smyers and Mooney wrote “Say So” with Jimmy Robbins and David Hodges. The song was inspired by Vaughn committing suicide, after quietly fighting his own mental health battle, without letting anyone in to his private pain.

“He took his own life, sadly, unexpectedly,” Smyers tells Variety. “This happened a week or two after we had been hanging out at a little party at my house, celebrating ‘Bigger Houses’ going No. 1, and ‘10,000 Hours’ hitting a billion streams on Spotify. It was one of those things where no one saw it coming. At least we didn’t.”

Vaughn’s life came to a heartbreaking and very unexpected end. It made both men more determined than ever to make sure they faced the subject of mental health head-on.

“I’ve personally dealt with mental health stuff over the last few years, more so than ever,” Smyers admits. “We battle a lot of stuff inside and outside of ourselves. And as we were talking about Ben, we were just like, ‘Man, I wish we would’ve known. I wish we could have reminded him that there’s always somebody on the other line.’ At the time we wrote it, we were like, ‘I don’t know, man. It’s different than what we usually do. It’s not a love song.’ But it kind of is, I guess.”

Photo Credit: Robby Klein