For bands like Lady Antebellum, there are three opinions when it comes to music they like and songs they want to record, but Dave Haywood says, “We’d never move forward with anything unless we all agree on it.”
That doesn’t mean that they all instantly love every song they end up recording. Charles Kelley says, “There’s definitely songs that like, someone gravitates towards more… I would definitely say one of us has to give the other a little bit of a nudge like, ‘I’m telling you, give it another shot and listen to it again with fresh ears.”
There are also those times when one member of the band doesn’t hate a song, but they’re not entirely sold on it, or someone will be so passionate about a song that they just don’t have the heart to let it go, and in those situations, Hillary Scott says, “There might be some persuading, and honestly I feel like any time where I may have been on the fence about a song, I think that’s a lot of the time where I’ve learned from a creative standpoint to really pick your battles and to kind of let things marinate because a lot of times, over time, it’ll filter in and stick or it’ll filter out, and then it never really has to be a conversation.”
One song that received almost instant unanimous consent was Lady Antebellum’s current single, “What If I Never Get Over You.” It was a song they didn’t write, but as soon as they heard the demo, they felt like it was something they could have written, and they knew they had to record it.
Lady Antebellum – agreeing on songs :42
“There’s definitely songs that like, someone gravitates towards more, and you might have to go, ‘Man, just give it a few more listens.’ And usually, too, the songs that we write together always feel the most us.’ So, sometimes some of these outside songs, I would definitely say one of us has to give the other a little bit of a nudge like, ‘I’m telling you, give it another shot and listen to it again with fresh ears.”
Dave Haywood – “We’d never move forward with anything unless we all agree on it.”
Hillary Scott – “There might be some persuading, and honestly I feel like any time where I may have been on the fence about a song, I think that’s a lot of the time where I’ve learned from a creative standpoint to really pick your battles and to kind of let things marinate because a lot of times, over time, it’ll filter in and stick or it’ll filter out, and then it never really has to be a conversation.”