Breland.Photo: Spotify
BRELANDis reminiscing about a “restless summer” of love as “bittersweet” as “Strawberry Wine.”
The singer/songwriter, 26, joined in theSpotify Singles campaignthat debuted Thursday which features artists born in the ’90s covering their favorite popular singles from the decade.
BRELAND opted for Deana Carter’s 1996 hit “Strawberry Wine” andrecorded his chosen ode to countryat Sound Stage Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
In avideo alongside Parker McCollum and Tenille Arts— who also recorded their favorite nostalgic songs — BRELAND explained that out of all the options to choose from, he picked “Strawberry Wine” because “it was just one of those songs that transcended time.”
“I have been singing that song kind of casually over the past few years and was like, ‘Would it be weird for me to try to do a cover?'” the singer/songwriter reflected in an interview withRolling StoneTuesday.
Keeping true to the song, he covered it from the female perspective.
“It really beautifully describes an experience that we all have: first love,” Breland toldRolling Stone. “There’s a universal truth in the song. I can remember being 17 and feeling like I found the one. And as it turned out, it wasn’t.”
BRELAND; Deana Carter.Jason Kempin/Getty; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
The 26-year-old did, however, reimagine the song with an R&B twist.
“We literally only listened to gospel in the house,” he said. “My introduction to ’90s Country was really like high school and really college. For ’90s country there was just a playfulness about it, but also just the way they were telling some of those stories I was attracted to it as a songwriter.”
He continued, “A lot of my music brings hip hop and R&B and gospel influences into country and kind of fuses those things together as a cross-country cocktail.”
“What I’ve been doing lately is sampling ’90s country, add some modern instrumentals and put a new perspective on it. It’s just cool for me to see how history repeats itself and then also, how things just directly flow,” the storyteller said.
BRELAND also looked to the future of country music.
“Spotify singles in 2050… they’re gonna be like, ‘Oh my gosh, the ’20s were crazy!'” he said.
BRELAND.Jason Kempin/Getty
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Schaffer continued, “And when you think about Millennials, it’s not necessarily surprising because that was the soundtrack of our upbringing. With Gen Z, it’s interesting because a large portion of their generation weren’t even alive when these songs were released.”
“One of the things that we’ve started to learn about Gen Z is that they are conditioned to be exactly who they are,” she said. “That positions with country music really well, because country has always been about authenticity.”
Readers can listen to Spotify’s ’90s Country playlist here.
source: people.com
