Nashville’s very own Caleb Hearn just dropped his new EP We’re Getting Older, and he had some stories to share about how it all came together! It’s fair to say the 22-year-old indie pop artist approached this project as if he were writing in a daily journal, detailing the experiences as well as lessons he learned from a very confusing time in his life. When you’ve moved to a totally new city all by yourself, AND the person you loved the most walks out of your life leaving you all alone, how does one even hit the ground running again? Perhaps We’re Getting Older is the answer.
Read our chat below!
Before we dive into this project in particular, I want you to spill… what are some things you think go into the process of making an EP that a lot of fans just don’t consider?
I think the biggest thing that people just might not know (or are just part of the things that don’t get talked about much) is the process of finishing a song. I think a lot of people think it just goes… you write the song, you record the song, and then you put it out. There’s so much more to it, and there’s the fact each song on the EP took at least a month to a month and a half minimum to finish. We write the song, we’re working with the producer to figure out what’s the best sound for it, re-tracking vocals or whatever it is, re-writing even. We had one song that we did like a re-write for, where we went back in and really hashed out any more things we wanted to say in the song, or changes we wanted to make. I think the biggest thing is just how long each song takes, it’s something I think a lot of people don’t really understand. I think that’s why an EP would take so long… we’ve been working on this EP since November of last year. We wrote so many songs during that time, and these are the best six. These are the six that make the most sense for these EP.
I always ask artists, how did you even narrow down your track list? It must be so difficult! What makes you personally go, okay it’s these?
That was a little difficult! We had two songs that we were on the fence about. We had to do two other songs where we were like hey… these are really really good. Could they beat out anything else we have on the EP right now? I think that’s one of those things where, if you have songs that are all really really good, what makes the most sense for the message you’re trying to portray? That’s how we looked at it for this EP. The message we’re trying to portray just made sense for these six songs.
For this EP, we wanted it to feel like one solid message that is coming across – as a project, and not necessarily just six random songs. More like six songs that all go together and tell this narrative we’re trying to get across to the audience.
Tell me more about the story behind “We’re Getting Older.”
The EP… I guess started in October of last year. The cool thing about it is when I say that, I didn’t know it was going to be an EP until May of this year. I had no idea it was going to be an EP whatsoever. I was just basically writing songs, thinking these might be singles. The one cool thing I did this year was basically wrote from my perspective about how I was feeling that day, rather than just being like, “I want to write about this today.” I really took it upon myself (or at least for the songs on this EP) to write how I really felt in that moment, that month, that day, that week… whatever that was. I think that’s what makes the EP so special, because from November to May when we wrapped up the final song, it was all writing from how I was feeling in those moments. It follows a timeline, because these songs were written from November to May. It was early to middle to last year, and I was going through a messy breakup. That was definitely an inspiration for some of the start of the EP. As it progressed through this year, it was learning to be happy by myself, and figuring out how to get over something. Also, learning how to grow. I think that’s what inspired this EP in a way… it’s okay to not be okay in a way, because there were so many times when I was struggling with things. It wasn’t just the breakup… I moved to Nashville at the beginning of the year, so there were a lot of unknowns that I was dealing with.
The song “We’re Getting Older” came out a few weeks ago, it’s the title track. I think that was a pretty good summary, and that was the last song I wrote. It was really really cool how it all fell together without much intention.
It does seem like it came together so seamlessly.
It did. It really did.
Would you say there were any bumps in the road when you were creating the EP? Not even just personally, because if that were the case, you could just put it in a song I guess… but with the process in itself?
Honestly, there weren’t that many things. There were a couple of things on the legal side that could’ve slowed it down a bit… figuring out contracts and stuff like that. But overall, it went pretty smoothly. It was great – so simple!
Hey, that’s all you could ask for honestly… just a smooth ride.
Exactly.
Would you say this project sums up your growth as not just an artist, but as a human even with just a small snapshot of time?
Absolutely! If anyone asks me what I wanted to show, obviously I wanted to show how anyone can grow… because I wanted it to be relatable. More specifically, it’s much more about my personal growth as a human being. With that, the growth as an artist as well. My growth as a human being in the last year has been astronomical. I’m super lucky for that… I think I’ve learned so much. It was the first time living on my own, learning how to be completely independent – not depedent on parents, or even on the relationship side. Learning to not depend on someone else in a relationship. I think that was a huge learning curve for me. I think it was a huge 180 for me, and I think this EP highlights all of that.
That’s really important, you know! But, that’s also something to be very very proud of.
Thank you. Yes.
So now, I want you to pick your favorite child. What’s your absolute favorite song on the project?
Gosh, man that’s so hard. For the longest time, I was going to say my favorite song was “Believe It When I See It.” I think my favorite song on the EP lately has been “It Wasn’t Me At All.” I really really love that song. I think that’s the song I’m most excited about. Overall though, I think one of my favorite songs on the EP is “We’re Getting Older.” I wrote it with two other guys, Andrew Tufano and Dan Swank in Nashville, and it was such a random thing that came about. It just felt so right.
Kinda wrapping things up right now, what’s something you’re really looking to be able to do for the rest of the year? We have what… honestly, September is over. It’s gone. But we have three more months, and you can get a lot in during that time!
We have a tour starting on the 28th, which is going to be really cool. I think after this EP, we’ll do this tour and I’m really excited to connect with the fans and see their reactions to this EP in person. I’ll probably ride that out a bit, but definitely…. I’m the type of person who does NOT like to wait to put out music. Everyone’s going to tell me, “You just put out an EP! You can wait a few months!” I’m going to do everything I can to release another single after this EP pretty freaking fast. I don’t know, it’s just who I am. I like to just keep consistently putting out music. My goal would be to put out 1-2 more singles before this year is over.
To me, three months is like a lot of time. I want to be able to do as much as I can. As far as a definite, I have this tour coming up. I have a few ideas coming up for music, so yeah.
Check out Caleb’s shiny new project We’re Getting Older below!
