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Dan + Shay’s ‘Bigger Houses’ Hits Home Hard

Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group

Dan + Shay’s “Bigger Houses” is a song that the duo relates to a lot. Shay Mooney says that at this point in their lives and careers, he and Dan Smyers, who co-wrote the song, are truly living out the lessons they sing about in the new song.

Grateful

Shay told us, “We’re just so grateful that we get to do this for a living. I get to hang out with my best friend and get to make music again.”

Dan + Shay’s ‘Bigger Houses’

He added of the duo’s latest song, “It’s just pretty incredible to have a song like ‘Bigger Houses’ that speaks to all of that. [It’s] A lesson that we had to learn the hard way, to stop chasing after things that don’t matter and that happiness doesn’t live in bigger houses. It doesn’t live in these things that you chase after that you think will make you happy.”

RELATED: Dan + Shay: ‘Some Things Never Change’ For The Country Duo

Money And Happiness

Mooney learned the lesson in the song personally, “Money is never gonna bring you the happiness that you want. You know, because that just kind of perpetuates this, ‘Alright, if I make a million bucks, I’ll be happy.’ You kind of put these goals, these markers on your happiness, and it’s just eventually going to fail because you’re gonna make a million dollars, and you’re gonna want to make two.”

“And then, when you make two, you could make four or ten. You know these things that are just you put these contingencies on your happiness.”

Song’s Lyrics

The song’s chorus lyrics are: “There’s always gonna be a higher high / You could chase for the rest of your life / Greener grass in the yard next door / Or a shined up Chevy little newer than yours / You’re never gonna fill an empty cup if what you got’s still not enough / The thing about happiness I’ve found is / It don’t live in bigger houses.”

The Album

Dan Smyers said of the new album before it was released, “Some of our records have been more pop- or hip-hop/R&B-infused, but on this record, I wanted to make tracks that we could hop up at any bar anywhere with our live band and play the songs as they were recorded.”

Dan + Shay's 'Bigger Houses' album covers the guys sitting outside in a field in a small house.

Photo- Robby Klein 

Dan + Shay are currently out on their “The Heartbreak On The Map tour.”

The tour’s remaining dates:

Thu, Apr 4 Milwaukee, WI Fiserv Forum
Fri, Apr 5 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Sat, Apr 6 Omaha, NE CHI Health Center Omaha
Sun, Apr 7 Kansas City, MO T-Mobile Center
Thu, Apr 11 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
Fri, Apr 12 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
Sat, Apr 13 Boston, MA TD Garden

5 of Dan + Shay's Best-Loved Music Videos

  • "Save Me The Trouble" (2023)

    This song was the lead single from the duo’s fifth studio album, Bigger Houses. It was released in July of 2023. The song was produced by duo member Dan Smyers and Scott Hendricks. Dan + Shay announced the song three days before its release and announced the album two days later.

    The song’s music video starts backstage before a show as the guys hang out in their dressing room. As they walk down the hall to the stage, Shay begins to sing the first first. The video then cuts to a crowd going wild as the duo sings the song on stage. As many of the duo’s songs do, it really highlights Shay Mooney’s incredible vocals.

  • "I Should Probably Go to Bed" (2020)

    Dan + Shay co-wrote this song. Smyers also produced the song and played every instrument on it from his own house. He told me in an interview that same year that he had the song’s title saved on his phone for months prior to the conception of the song.

    The creative music video starts out with Dan playing the piano. It features the duo singing in an empty house suspended in the air as people all over look at the curious home dangling in the sky as objects lose gravity and float.

  • "Speechless" (2018)

    This is one of the songs the duo is known for most. Like so many of their big hits, this song was co-written by both guys. This performance won the duo a GRAMMY for Best Country Duo/ Group in 2019.

    This sweet music video features footage from Smyers’ and Mooney’s 2017 weddings, including the grooms’ first looks at their brides, the brides walking down the aisle, and the couples’ introductions at their respective receptions.

  • "10,000 Hours" with Justin Bieber (2019)

    “10,000 Hours” debuted at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, which at the time was the first country song to debut in the top ten since 2012. The song was named Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards. The duo released the song four days after Justin and Hailey Bieber’s wedding in South Carolina on September 30, 2019.

    The music video featured Dan, Shay, and Beiber sitting in a room with a piano and flowers and singing. The video also features all three of the guy’s wives.

  • "Tequila" (2018)

    This song for the duo won the GRAMMY Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Grammy Awards, as well as both Single and Song of the Year at the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards. Dan’s wife, Abby Law Smyers, performs backing vocals on the song during the post-chorus “When I when I” hook.

    The music video was filmed at a ski resort and snowy cabin in the mountains. It features Shay playing piano in the snow.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.

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Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group
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