INTERVIEW: Chris Lane On New Album 'Girl Problems' | Music You Should Know
By Nicole Mastrogiannis
July 29, 2016
If you haven't had your Chris Lane "fix" yet, you certainly will after listening to his brand new debut album Girl Problems. The new record features the 31-year-old's single "Fix," which hit the top 10 on the US Country chart and No. 4 on the US Country Airplay chart, along with becoming the most added song on Country radio nationwide shortly after its release late last year. Girl Problems has 11 other country tracks as well, some of which are new and others are remastered from his EP like "For Her." The album was produced by Joey Moi (who has worked with Florida Georgia Line and Jake Owen), and will be released on August 5th via Big Loud Records. And Chris has quite a few celebrity fans already including Selena Gomez, Daughtry, Florida Georgia Line, and Lucy Hale. We recently caught up with the rising country star, and he told us all about his "Girl Problems" during an exclusive interview.
Chris Lane has a unique sound in country music. The singer and songwriter has the great musicality of stars like Keith Urban, but with the smooth-sounding soulfulness of Justin Timberlake -- especially when he hits those falsetto notes. He tells us that growing up, he listened to artists like George Strait, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, and Kenny Chensey, but also loved Usher and the Backstreet Boys. Listening to Chris's music, the influence of all of these artists combine can clearly be heard. He says, "I feel like I was able to find a way to put all of those sounds together to make this record. I kept the whole falsetto that I used in Fix going throughout the record, not on every single song, but on a lot of the songs and I can't wait for people to hear the songs I've been working on."
On what it was like making his debut album
"Putting my debut record together was something that was really special. It was exciting to kinda work through a lot of things and to figure out what kind of sound I wanted and what kind of songs I wanted to write and record. For me, that was the exciting part, and to be able to watch these songs come alive in the studio and now hopefully on the stage, I can't wait for that."
Speaking of Girl Problems, Chris decided to give his debut album that title because he noticed that a common theme throughout the record had to do with some type of girl problem. He says, "Through the recording process, I noticed that there seemed to be a theme going on throughout the record and that every single song seemed to have some type of girl problem. Whether it was good or bad, so I thought it was very fitting."
"FIx" was an extremely strong first single for Chris, and the success of the song means a lot to the singer/songwriter. Whether it's seeing his fans sing the song back to him on social media, or live in concert, it's an extremely special feeling.
On what the success of his single "Fix" means to him
"The success of Fix has blown me away. One of my favorite things to do is to wake up in the morning and to look at Snapchats and tweets and Instagrams, whatever it may be of people hearing it on the radio or them saying it's one of their favorite songs. That blows me away, and I'm just thankful for all the love and support that everyone has given me. Being able to show up at show night after night and to hear people singing it back to me is a special moment for me. It's something I've certainly never had before, so I get very excited about that."
"Fix" may be a special song for Chris because it's what kicked off his career, and his new album, but Girl Problems has 11 other songs he's also very proud of, like "For Her," "Her Own Kind of Beautiful," and more. He tells us, "I love all the other songs on the record for specific reasons, and I'm just excited I get to perform these songs every night.
On his favorite memory from creating 'Girl Problems'
As we mentioned before, Chris told us he grew up listening to many legendary country artists -- including Garth Brooks. So you can imagine what a major moment it was for the Kernsville, North Carolina native when Garth walked into the studio while he was recording Girl Problems. And naturally, it turned out to be his favorite moment from making his debut record.
"One of my favorite memories from creating this record was sitting in the studio one day, and in walked Garth Brooks. Out of nowhere, walks in, introduces himself as if he needed to do that, and we just sat there and talked for a while. That was a really cool moment for me."
You can check out the official track list for the album below:
1. “Fix” 2. “For Her” 3. “Let Me Love You” 4. “Who’s It Gonna Be” 5. “Back To Me” 6. “Maybe” 7. “Her Own Kind Of Beautiful” 8. “All The Time” 9. “Circles” featuring Mackenzie Porter 10. “Saturday Night” 11. “All About You” 12. “Girl Problems”