This Friday, Sugarland will release BIGGER, their first new album in almost eight years, featuring 11 songs, all of which they wrote, except for their current single, “Babe,” which was co-written by Taylor Swift and Train’s Pat Monahan. When fans listen to the album they will hear a lot of timely messages in many of the songs. Jennifer Nettles says they hope it provides “messages of hope and healing, of invitations to ask questions, of offerings and invitations to maybe see things differently,” because, “I think the world right now is in such a place to need to hear certain messages and I hope that we have offered them the right ones.”
They didn’t set out to write an album full of messages. Kristian Bush says “I think it snuck up on us. But, as usual, when you feel something like that happen, you kind of lean into it.”
Jennifer explains that during the writing process, which was incredibly fast, they approached each song as an individual entity, and not as a piece of a larger puzzle. “We were just really very much in the moment of every song because we didn’t know before going in every day what we were going to necessarily write about or what the other was going to bring… It was only through the action of creating and then completing that we started to see, oh this is a collection of messages. Each one was just its own song at the time of what we needed to say.”
One thing that is unique about BIGGER, is that the entire album was created, from writing to recording, in less than three weeks. Once Jennifer and Kristian began writing, they had the whole project written in less than two weeks, and after an additional week, they had all the songs recorded, and working on an album at that pace didn’t leave any room for over-analyzing or second guessing. “It’s really given us the opportunity to almost stop getting in the way of it,” says Kristian. “So it exists naturally based on our instincts more than anything else. And when you boil it down to what an artist is, it really is whatever their instincts are. And Jennifer’s instincts to sing and my instincts to play, they drive everything else.”
BIGGER will sound fresh but familiar to long-time Sugarland fans because Jennifer and Kristian say they have a connection and creativity that is unique to when the two of them work together. She explains, “Just because we know each other so well, there were some beautiful moments of ‘ahhh,’ for us too. I mean, I remember specifically where [Kristian was] having a moment where you were like, ‘Oh yes, so excited!’ Because both being from the southeast and being what I would call Atlanta-bred, even though we’re not from there, I mean that’s where we cut our teeth as musical adults, right? In our careers we have certain sensibilities, so we understand that part of our musical heritage with each other in a way that is so refreshing to get to do, that other people don’t understand in each other or in us.”
Get Sugarland’s new album, BIGGER, this Friday, June 8th.
Sugarland – album of messages :41
Jennifer Nettles – “This album is timely and we will not only, I think, be able to celebrate it and offer it, I hope, as messages of hope and healing, of invitations to ask questions, of offerings and invitations to maybe see things differently. There’s a ton of messaging on this record that right now I hope that it can achieve those sorts of very lofty goals within the hearts of people, and that later I know we will look back and it will be clearly marked in terms of the times in which we have written it. I think the world right now is in such a place to need to hear certain messages and I hope that we have offered them the right ones.”
Sugarland – didn’t intend statement record :41
Kristian Bush – “I think it snuck up on us. But, as usual, when you feel something like that happen you kind of lean into it.”
Jennifer Nettles – “But we were just really very much in the moment of every song because we didn’t know before going in every day what we were going to necessarily write about or what the other was going to bring. I mean we might have had feelings within ourselves but not only do we know what the other was going to bring, we didn’t know whether or not it was going to resonate with the other and how it was going to then translate in song or not. It was only through the action of creating and then completing that we started to see, oh this is a collection of messages. Each one was just its own song at the time of what we needed to say.”
Sugarland – recorded on instinct :53
Kristian Bush – “This album seems really special. You say that about all of them, but this one really, because of the speed at which we’ve written it and the speed at which we’ve recorded it, it’s really given us the opportunity to almost stop getting in the way of it. So it exists naturally based on our instincts more than anything else. And when you boil it down to what an artist is, it really is whatever their instincts are. And Jennifer’s instincts to sing and my instincts to play, they drive everything else. It was amazing to be on the floor watching five, six people play at the same time and Jennifer sing down the version of the song you’re going to hear. Not many people do that anymore and that’s a real gift that we have that kind of talent inside this band. But it’s also really revealing emotionally. These songs are getting the very best they can get.”
Sugarland – familiarity in new music :41
Jennifer Nettles – “This is not to say anything negative about any work that we’ve done in the meantime with other people, but just because we know each other so well, there were some beautiful moments of ‘ahhh,’ for us too. I mean, I remember specifically where you were having a moment where you were like, ‘Oh yes, so excited!’ Because both being from the southeast and being what I would call Atlanta bred, even though we’re not from there, I mean that’s where we cut our teeth as musical adults, right, in our careers, we have certain (sensibilities) sensibilities, yeah, so we understand that part of our musical heritage with each other in a way that is so refreshing to get to do.
Kristian Bush – “And effortless to move in and out of .”
Jennifer – “That other people don’t understand in each other or in us.”
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