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Dan + Shay opened up about feeling “ready to quit” music and going months without speaking to one another. The duo posted a powerful video as they went for a drive and reflected on the point they considered breaking up, and how they overcame the struggles to come back stronger than ever.
The award-winning country duo — made up of Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney — posted “The Drive” on their social media channels on Sunday evening (July 9). Mooney sits behind the wheel while Smyers talks from the passenger seat, opening the video by remembering being in “the lowest low of my entire life. (We) came off the road and I was like, ‘man, I f*ckin’ hate music. I’m ready to quit.’”
“I could feel the separation, and I think there was little things between you and I that we never talked about, and it was affecting everything, you know? Not just our band… I was just in a really dark place,” Mooney replied.
Dan + Shay met up to talk about the future of the band in March of 2022, reads a caption appearing on screen. That was after Smyers and Mooney went four months without speaking.
“Whether we break up and we hug it out and say, ‘man, this has been the best 10 years of my life,’ or we say, ‘man, this is a launching-off point. This is a new beginning. This is a chance for a whole new outlook on life,’” Smyers said. “I feel like this was kind of the first time, after the arena tour, after covid, that we were able to step back and just assess.”
Throughout the three-minute, 45-second video, the duo partners reflected on rough patches over the years. Mooney said he had “no balance,” and Smyers remembered ignoring his marriage and his friendships as he “entirely burnt myself out.” Mooney wished he would have been more present, and recalled putting “so much weight” on their previous arena tour, and “especially at that point, I was drinking a lot. So, those highs became really high and the lows became really, really low.”
“We just weren’t working on it. We let things get in the way. We let things fly out the window, and man, that moment where we sat down and just talked it out, I feel like was so healthy. ...That night changed it all,” Smyers said, and Mooney agreed that one night served as a turning point and the duo decided, “I want to fight for this.”
“We love this band. This has been our life. It matters. It matters to people and we had a responsibility and we owed it to them,” Mooney said. “It’s amazing to know now that we found that joy that we were talking about.”
Smyers said that he and Mooney are now “a million times the closest we’ve ever been,” and now feels that the band is more sustainable than ever. Mooney said that although he doesn’t know what the group’s “destination” is, they’ve learned valuable lessons along their journey to continue moving forward. “…it’s changed our lives. I mean honestly, the process of this album completely changed our lives. “
Earlier this year, Dan + Shay shared an explanation for their recent silence on social media. They assured at that time that they’d been working on a new album, and promised updates “soon” as they look ahead to their next chapter.
Watch “The Drive” here (warning: language):