When Shaboozey was writing “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” he wanted to keep the arrangements sounding as organic as possible. He built the track around J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy,” and within an hour, he had his very own ode to raising a glass — with a country twist. The megahit quickly went viral and topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart, surpassing “Texas Hold ’Em” by Beyoncé. (Shaboozey had actually teamed up with her for two songs on her recent country LP, Cowboy Carter.) Together, they became the first two Black artists to lead that chart back-to-back.
The Influences
Around the time that he wrote the song, Shaboozey had been listening to a lot of music by artists like Zach Bryan and the Lumineers. But although he was inspired by their stripped-back acoustics, he was also channeling hip-hop heavyweights like Pharrell Williams for the four-to-the-floor instrumental breakdown. (And of course, he wanted to pay homage to J-Kwon’s knack for partying.) “Some people said it reminds them of [Oasis’] ‘Wonderwall,’ ” Shaboozey says. “I don’t hear it.”
All Together Now
In the same way that J-Kwon captured the essence of the club on “Tipsy,” Shaboozey wanted his song to channel the liveliness of a packed dive bar. Shaboozey achieved the stomp-and-shout elements of the single by bringing in friends to layer on vocals. “We love incorporating gang vocals and all our friends singing things,” the Nigerian American musician says. “I think the more energy and the more people you put on a song, the more it’s felt.” He adds that because he was working with producers Nevin Sastry and Sean Cook, the studio “definitely turned into a party by the end of the song, which is a good sign.”
The Influences
Around the time that he wrote the song, Shaboozey had been listening to a lot of music by artists like Zach Bryan and the Lumineers. But although he was inspired by their stripped-back acoustics, he was also channeling hip-hop heavyweights like Pharrell Williams for the four-to-the-floor instrumental breakdown. (And of course, he wanted to pay homage to J-Kwon’s knack for partying.) “Some people said it reminds them of [Oasis’] ‘Wonderwall,’ ” Shaboozey says. “I don’t hear it.”
All Together Now
In the same way that J-Kwon captured the essence of the club on “Tipsy,” Shaboozey wanted his song to channel the liveliness of a packed dive bar. Shaboozey achieved the stomp-and-shout elements of the single by bringing in friends to layer on vocals. “We love incorporating gang vocals and all our friends singing things,” the Nigerian American musician says. “I think the more energy and the more people you put on a song, the more it’s felt.” He adds that because he was working with producers Nevin Sastry and Sean Cook, the studio “definitely turned into a party by the end of the song, which is a good sign.”
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MusicTranscript
00:00When you're making something that's fun and true to you and just something that's exciting and just
00:04like how easily it kind of comes about you know you don't need to be in like a mega studio or
00:08anything like that it's just me and two friends just made a song and had an idea and we we went
00:13for it probably done in like an hour. Well the demo. Hey I'm Shaboosie and this is The Breakdown.
00:20Fun energetic country.
00:31That's a fiddle right there ain't it? Best part of the song.
00:39Has like a hobbit vibe. The Shire. Came to me in a studio session with my producers and
00:46we were talking about flipping a 2000 song and Tipsy just made the most sense.
00:52Some people said it reminds them of Wonderwall. I don't hear it but yeah. I think it was just
00:58just kind of a no-brainer once you think about just the nature of the original song you know
01:03being that you know everybody at the club's getting tipsy and you know they love to drink
01:08at dive bars and you drink at the club so I thought that kind of like the the synchronicity
01:12made sense. Everybody at the bar get tipsy. Fire. It sound like a classic. It's cool to be able to
01:19incorporate some of the instruments I used in Tipsy like the fiddle and in Jeff Gordon I used
01:24like some commentary like just some sound bites from just some NASCAR commentators you know with
01:30the young Jeff Gordon you know and you had the Dale Earnhardt so the fiddle I always try to
01:33incorporate some like super traditional element into the music that helps just create the world.
01:42Everybody at the bar getting tipsy. Everybody at the bar getting tipsy.
01:58Okay the girls.
02:06I didn't even know this was in here. Oh we just love a good gang vocal man. We love incorporating gang
02:11vocals and all our friends singing things. I think the more energy and the more people you put on a
02:15song the more it's felt. First thing was definitely the idea of flipping a 2000 song into a into a
02:21traditional country song and then the lyric first hit I think everybody at the bar getting tipsy
02:25was I feel like the first thing that came and then we rode around getting to that point.
02:30The little chant scream thing was cool. I was gonna say my favorite thing of the song.
02:36A couple other songs I was listening to for this project or even the song where
02:39I was listening to a lot of like bluegrass music a lot of like Zach Bryan,
02:44Josiah and the Bonnevilles like people that just have a lot of like acoustic
02:48strip back songs. Some Lumineers as well like just like listening to all that folk stuff and
02:53trying to figure out how I can do that. I was listening to a lot of like the
02:57listening to all that folk stuff and trying to figure out how I can just make the song
03:00sound as organic as possible on the production side and just yeah the writing side as well.
03:06I grew up listening to a lot of different things you know I have my parents are Nigerian so
03:10a lot of like Nigerian traditional music stuff that got played at weddings. My dad went to college
03:16in Texas so I think he picked up a lot of like country music from there shared that with me.
03:20Obviously 2000s the hip-hop whatever was on TV you know like Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw like all
03:25those on TV, Ja Rule, Nelly, J-Lo all whatever's on TV honestly. Radio, radio is a big part of our
03:32lives. You guys want to hear some 12-string guitar? Can't have a country song with no 12-string.
03:37Can't have a bluegrass song with no 12-string guitar it's just
03:44it's got like a brighter tone to it you know. Played with my boy John Mark Nelson.
03:51There you go.
03:57Banjo and a J-Kwon and J-Kwon style. It's been crazy it's you know it's really new to me I think
04:04it's it's new to country listeners as well but I think everyone's embracing me and I'm excited
04:09to just continue to break those boundaries and you know make the music I love. Then my next
04:15favorite thing Brush Loops. You gotta have a Brush Loop man you're not having an Americana
04:20song without a Brush Loop. Yeah I love a good brush. I'm always going for a brush over
04:33you know your traditional stick sound. That little train be going.
04:50Hype noise. Oh the kick is really cool too. Super cool. So that's a sick brush
05:02courtesy of Ryan Cook, my producer's brother. Kick gets really cool here. I actually made this
05:09well I did this breakdown thing which I think is pretty cool. Yeah a little breakdown. Pharrell
05:17I think I was thinking of Pharrell when I did it too when it was like
05:24four to the floor kick.
05:30Definitely expected a reaction. I think you know J-Kwon, Tipsy is already such like a
05:34huge party song so I think only getting the energy of that song and just my fans already
05:39I think it made sense and I'm a millennial as well so you know grew up with that song.
05:47Almost got like a Beach Boys sound to it.
05:55It's funny this is like all the stuff I listen to just in one song. All the stuff that like
06:01inspires me because a lot of times it's like me being like oh like we need this and we need that
06:05and we need this and it needs that. I worked on the record with one of my old friends Nevin Sastry
06:10and Sean Cook who did most of the most of the tracks on my last album and this so it's cool
06:16for like someone that I've previously collaborated with who's been like a big part of my life with
06:20like my new collaborator and they are like best friends now so we're all just three friends in
06:25a room just like doing what we do best which is just making music honestly having a good time.
06:30You know the original title of the album was going to be called Whistles and Banjos.
06:37Where's bass?
06:46Oh, I can't work.
06:51A little bass.
06:55808.
06:58I wasn't for the 808 but I'm so glad we put it in there.
07:03Just give it a little you know make it really hit.
07:09It's like a bass and an upright together. Crazy. No one's ever done that before. 808 with an
07:15upright. Nuts. We honestly don't know what we're doing half the time. It should be illegal. It was
07:22super fun sometimes the studios can be you know boring when we've been working on that project
07:26for like a year now so it's like we're back at it we've been pushing back you know dates to like oh
07:30we're gonna be finished now and everyone's schedule gets busy so it was cool that everyone was like
07:34open to like put all that stuff to the side and was like open to just you know like just making
07:38something really cool in that moment. Definitely turned into a party you know by the end of the
07:42song which is a good sign. There were definitely other songs that I was like debating whether I
07:46wanted to you know whether it should be this song or that song. I was able to meet PD Pablo who he
07:51had a record called Raise Up that I thought would be really cool to turn into a country song and I'm
07:55thinking about still doing it and I got some friends in Nashville who are from like St.
08:00Louis and all these areas and now they're talking about like flipping old like hip-hop samples into
08:05country songs too so and there might be a project there at some point. It would be cool to do
08:09something with Luke Bryan who's a friend of mine. Actually I actually showed him Tipsy or
08:14Bar Song before it came out and I was like yo you should get on the song yeah I think yeah it's
08:21really just a joke amongst friends now. Chris Stapleton a lot a lot of people that I would
08:25want to collaborate with we're in talks so it's not really a dream anymore it's more like possibility so.