Drew Baldridge ‘Feels a Lot of Pressure’ Going Into Sophomore Album

"The sophomore album's scary, but you know what your fans want to hear. You know what they want from you, you know what they expect to hear from you," Baldridge admitted.

Written by Kelly Brickey
Drew Baldridge ‘Feels a Lot of Pressure’ Going Into Sophomore Album
Drew Baldridge; Photo courtesy Cold River Records

Coming back for a second round is hard for any artist in the music industry, but Drew Baldridge knows how much rides on his sophomore effort so he’s going all in this time.

With a breakout year in 2017, Baldridge thought he needed to lean on the support of solo singles to captivate the country audience. But when he started breaking his sound down to the basics, he wanted to really show a part of himself that no laidback hook could replicate. The singer decided to step even deeper within himself to channel true life emotions in his lyrics, which led him into a more authentic approach to the second record.

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure and I think the first couple of songs, I was still on ‘Rebound,’ I was writing this and everything was awesome, and we were just trying to write that next single, so it’s just write singles, write singles, write singles, write singles. And when you start doing that, there comes a moment when you’re like, ‘Hey, I just need to write real music.’ That really rang true to me on this album,” Baldridge admitted to Sounds Like Nashville during a sit-down interview.

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Although the lyrical content of his next release will remain inspired by his life and what surrounds him, Baldridge hinted toward a more upbeat vibe throughout each track since he loves a little on-stage dancing from time to time.

“It’s gonna be really real and really me and for this record, we have the… knowing me, I’m a big dancer on stage,” Baldridge explained. “I love grooves and I love moving. So we still have that music in this album, but at the same time, we still have a really country lyric that goes with it. That’s something that I really wanted to make sure is that, ‘Hey, we’re still writing a really country lyric, and this is something that could happen in a small town,’ but, at the same time, it’s fun, it’s groovy, it makes you wanna dance. It makes you wanna turn it up out on your boat or whatever.”

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Despite all of the insecurities and anxieties that Baldridge may face in the coming months over how his second album will roll over to his fans, the singer knows how ready he is for that next step in his career to become available to listeners as soon as he can get it out to the masses.

“I’m really excited for my fans to hear this music. I think it’s really who I am, and I think they’re gonna relate to a lot of songs on here. The sophomore album’s scary, but you know what your fans want to hear. You know what they want from you, you know what they expect to hear from you. And I think we’re heading down that path. I’m excited,” he said to SLN.

No word yet on when Baldridge’s second album will be released.