Five-time GRAMMY nominee and Atlantic Records/Warner Music Nashville recording artist Hunter Hayes is proving to fans that he’s as unfiltered as ever with the release of his latest new song “One Shot” (LISTEN HERE). Billboard calls the “feel-good-about-feeling-bad” song an “instant party anthem,” praising the track for being “highly relatable…with the uplifting, hopeful tone that’s a signature of his music.” Simply put: “It’s so, so real” (Just Jared Jr.). Along with a visualizer YouTube video, Hayes released a one-take vertical video exclusively to Spotify (WATCH HERE) that follows the multi-platinum-selling country superstar on a stroll through downtown Nashville. It also appeared on their New Boots, Pop Co and New Music Friday playlists in nine different countries, with the music streaming service giving the track its very own billboard in the heart of Times Square.
“’One Shot’ is about a night that I don’t remember…but Instagram does,” laughs Hayes. “It’s the first song that I’d written by myself in about five years. I wrote it assuming no one else would hear it so it almost borderlines on TOO honest. There are even some things I probably could have left out! We’ve all had those nights where we remember some of it but forget a lot of it and owning up to my own experience with that is a whole different kind of confessional through music that I’ve never attempted before.”
In addition, Hayes just rolled out the initial installment of his “To Tell The Truth” style drinking game, #NoFilter, featuring Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Dave Barnes (WATCH HERE). Each episode will highlight a different special guest who takes turns with Hayes presenting statements that the other must determine as true or false. A wrong guess results in the guesser having to take – you guessed it – “One Shot.”
Earlier this month, the Louisiana-native released his unflinchingly honest and introspective song, “Dear God,” which he wrote alongside pop hit-maker Andy Grammer and accomplished songwriter Dave Spencer. Clocking in at over 1 million streams a week, “Dear God” has already accumulated over 3.2 million on-demand streams in the U.S. alone and 4.2 million globally. Dubbed an “anthem for the anxious” by Rolling Stone, the lyrics tackle a universally relatable experience: struggling with self-doubt. The multi-instrumentalist also shared a mini-documentary chronicling his writing and recording process in the studio (WATCH HERE) along with the official music video (WATCH HERE) that premiered across multiple Viacom music channels including CMT, CMT Music, MTV Live and MTVU.
With multiple sales certifications, more than 750 million on-demand streams and three chart-topping singles, Hayes continues to show how he continually evolves. American Songwriter observed that “Hunter Hayes is on a mission to become a household name” when the then-20-year-old released his debut project and he has yet to slow down since. Hailed as a "force to be reckoned with" by the Huffington Post, he has accumulated over 40 award nominations and wins so far.
His 5x multi-platinum single “Wanted,” which has been streamed over 110 million times on Spotify alone, received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Solo Performance in 2013. Featured on his 2x multi-platinum debutalbum Hunter Hayes, the smash hit became his first No. 1 single on the country airplay charts and solidified him as the youngest solo male artist to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in over 40 years. The self-titled debut has accumulated over half a billion on-demand streams in the US alone and also includes the platinum-certified No. 1 “Somebody’s Heartbreak,” the 2x multi-platinum “I Want Crazy” and the gold-certified singles “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me” and “Storm Warning.”
