Josh Gracin Explains Why He Wanted to Explore His Soulful Side on ‘Good for You’
Josh Gracin has included elements of traditional, string-heavy country music in many of his most popular songs, lending his trademark deep, velvety vocals and a heavy dose of twang to early hits such as "Stay With Me (Brass Bed)," "Nothin' to Lose" and "I Want to Live." However, the country singer and former American Idol contestant knows the importance of musical versatility, and intentionally explores more soulful frontiers with his newest song, "Good for You."
"I've done a lot of different music over the years. And I felt like I really wanted to do something that was different," Gracin explained to The Boot on the red carpet before the 2018 CMA Awards. "Not different just for me, but different from anything else that's on the radio."
Not only was Gracin striving for personal uncharted territory when he recorded "Good for You," he also wanted to give fans and country radio listeners something a little different than what they might be used to. So, he blended in elements of different genres, and switched up his vocal technique.
"It's a great fusion of country music, R&B and soul," he goes on to say of the song. "And I get the chance to do all this stuff vocally -- use falsetto and things like that."
The singer adds that as an artist, it's important to take chances and avoid getting too comfortable, although he admits that change is always a little intimidating. "You never know how people are gonna take it," Gracin says. "People that are your fans, sometimes they'd kinda like you to stay with what you're doing."
Fortunately, the singer says that his fans are used to hearing a wide variety of styles from him already. "That's the good thing about the fact that the stuff I've cut over the course of my career, it's been all over the board," he points out. "It hasn't been just a set sound; I've kind of done things from all over the place. So I hope that when my fans hear this song, and country radio hears this song, they love it."
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