Hunter Hayes is gearing up to release his new album Red Sky this year, the second part of a trilogy of albums following 2019's Wild Blue, and with each album, fans will get to know the singer/songwriter like never before as this collection of music showcases personal transformation.

Red Sky includes Hunter's previously-released single "The One That Got Away" and the more recent "If You Change Your Mind."

Fans have a lot to look forward to as the release of Red Sky approaches, because as Hunter puts it, "I just think Red Sky is a heart burning musically, lyrically and spiritually. I think there was a lot of personal growth to make this record."

Hayes recently opened up about his forthcoming new album, how he has personally transformed from his previous albums and his last album Wild Blue, his new single "If You Change Your Mind" and its music video, and even teased Part 3 in his album trilogy. Read on below.

Tell us about your song "If You Change Your Mind" and what inspired it?

"I just recently found the voice memo for this, and it's really interesting because we were on our way to a gig, the back of the bus was like my little mini studio, and it's my happy place when we're not at my happy place yet, which is the stage. And I just could hear this two minor to one chord progression with a bunch of strings and harps and this sort of dream-like thing with this title, 'If You Change Your Mind.' I think I had the title 'If You Change Your Mind' for a minute, and I just liked the pacing of the words and that tempo with the strings. The strings, a lot of the feel very dreamlike. The topic was you're not confident enough to say you should come back, but you're still holding on to something, and you still miss somebody. It's the point at which you're missing the good things. And it's kind of an embarrassing place because while part of you is like, I should be moving on, part of you is still stuck in it and can only remember the good things and is still holding onto it. And it's a bit of a dreamlike state to be in, it's borderline euphoric because you can only remember the good. And so I wanted it to feel very dreamlike. The strings contributed to that. I love how bluesy elements contribute to this confidence/this 'miss you' nature. So, yeah, I just have a session with 90 something string samples, and I took it into a writing session with my friend, Rachel [Braig] and Johnluke [Lewis], and the song wrote itself. I love when that happens, because we're just receiving songs. We just open the door and allow them into the room and let them become things. And when a song is easy to write, that means that you're really open and you're really allowing your experiences to be translated into a piece of art that other people can have. So, I love when a song is written quickly, it means that it's meant to happen. And that song felt like it was meant to happen. And then afterwards it was just so much fun to keep working on and play for people, because I don't know what I expected, but the response it was, at the time, a lot of gutsy musical decisions. And when I played it for people, I expected it to be polarizing and it was quite the opposite. Everyone responded in such a strongly positive way and more often than not, I got a statement that made me feel like people heard me and my passions and music. My favorite sounds, my favorite grooves, my favorite instruments, all of my favorite things. I felt as though people responded in such a way where they felt like they heard a lot more of me in the music, which made me really happy. And that kind of became the bar of, I should be this present in every song on this album. So I'm very grateful for that."

Tell us about the "If You Change Your Mind" music video? Do you have a favorite memory from filming it?

"It was so much fun to film this video. I have said this over and over again, and I will continue to say it. I got to work with such an incredible group of people, and specifically, the director and the director of photography, Bia and Rachel. I actually begged them, essentially, to do a lot of other music videos. So, we've already worked together since, and we have a lot of work to do together going forward, which I'm really excited about and I'm very grateful for. But, there's just something magical when you have a group of people that really want to make something come to life, especially visually. And all of these people on set were ... I just love being surrounded by people who love what they do so much. You can just feel the hunger, you can feel the desire to give something life. And that's what I felt working with this team. My favorite memory from filming it was honestly meeting a lot of these people for the first time. I've been lucky. I've worked with a lot of people that I love that I will continue to work with different directors in different teams, but this team felt really connected to Red Sky as a concept, and I just felt like that was meant to be. It's just really cool when you find a group of people who are all connected, and connect and relate to the music that you're making. It's just really spectacular. You can't make that up."

Theresa Lucas

About Theresa Lucas