Q: Hi! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
A: Hey there! We’re McCall (singer) and Mike (guitar), and we’re Davvn – a pop/alt/rock duo from Nashville TN. We might be most known on the internet for our remix of Bowling For Soup’s 1985 called 2002 – this one got a lot of attention on TikTok and we actually ended up putting the song out with the band themselves which was pretty mind-blowing. We also had another song that got a lot of attention on the platform called “fvcked up lullaby”, which if you can guess had to do with the lyrics being pretty unhinged (lol). The two of us have been making music together for just about 4 years as “davvn” and we recently decided to make the move from our college town of Boston to Nashville in order to really focus on our music career. We’ve made some amazing friends out here in just over a year and we are feeling super excited about what’s next!
Q: What inspired you to write “Depressed in Heaven”?
A: So this song was pretty personal to me (McCall). It’s somewhat of a message to myself about finding happiness and avoiding getting wrapped up in the negative. I love the duality of the idea of being depressed in a perfect, expectedly happy place like heaven.
Q: Can you talk about the meaning behind the lyrics of the song?
A: (McCall) I’ve always been a perfectionist and a goal-focused person, so for me, the grind of being an artist can get me down at times, even when really everything else in my life is going great. It’s a message to not find reasons to be upset and instead look at the good things, which there are so many of. It’s about how being happy is a mindset – you could be happy with nothing at all or be depressed even though you have everything (even in a “perfect place” like the idea of heaven).
Q: What was the songwriting process like for “Depressed in Heaven”?
A: We worked with two of our friends here in Nashville – Suzie Buist and Nick Guttmann. (McCall) I brought the concept of writing a song called “Depressed in Heaven” to the session and we all worked together to flesh out the lyrics and the song structure. Mike helped to put together a first pass on the demo, and we knew we had something special there and then! It’s funny because when we had first written the song we had a totally different melody and chords for the chorus but the same lyrics. We ended up doing a different spin on that to make it feel more minor and really love how it turned out.
Q: How did you decide on the musical arrangement for the track?
A: The song started off with the little plucky guitar riff from the intro and just moved from there. We came up with a simple little chord progression for the pre-chorus before really launching into the energetic chorus. Our producer Andrew Gomez added tons of elements including vocal chops and more guitar parts to fill out this incredible vibe for the song. One of my favorite parts in the arrangement is actually the dropout in the bridge where McCall’s vocals really shine as well as the last post-chorus. It’s kind of haunting and just lets the vocals and the bass line shine once again.
Q: What message do you hope listeners will take away from “Depressed in Heaven”?
A: I think the biggest thing we’re hoping for people to take away is to remember to take a step back and appreciate what you have every day. When you’re working towards a goal (like we are ourselves as artists) it can be tough to step away from the grind and celebrate where you’re at. That and to try and make sure to focus on the positive things in your life. Because there’s always going to be something that you can obsess over and feel like you’re not good enough or not happy with.
Q: Are there any particular artists or genres that influenced the sound of the song?
A: We really love Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, and a ton of other 2000s pop/rock artists and that was definitely our inspiration when writing out the lyrics and the melodies of the song. Our producer, Andrew Gomez, is a huge fan of the 1975 as well and I can hear a lot of their influence on the production style of the song too!
Q: How does “Depressed in Heaven” fit into your creative vision and work?
A: Depressed in Heaven is probably our slowest song, but it still seems to have a ton of energy and bounce to it. The song is definitely a step away from the more typical pop/rock sound that we’ve had, but I think that’s in a great way – it helps to separate the song and it feels really fresh and unique to me. The artwork and the video are also my favorites that we’ve done to this day – the whole team who worked on the video/art – Ali Gomez, Kenneth Heron, Allen Howard, Noah Cordell, Jason Hassell and so many others were incredible to work with and really brought our vision for the song way past what we could’ve ever imagined for it. It really feels like a piece of art to us instead of just a song.
Q: Can you share any interesting or unexpected challenges you faced while creating the single?
A: I think the biggest challenge for us was actually the music video and the media around it. It took us weeks of planning to get everything scheduled and to make sure we had extras and our sets ready to go. We were actually filming the video at our own home and we completely changed the entire look of the place for the day of filming. We had about 24 hours before that to get things set up, lighted, and staged. It truly was an incredible effort by everyone involved. It feels surreal that we were able to get this all done!
Q: What’s next for you after releasing “Depressed in Heaven”?
A: We’re currently working on recording & producing our last few songs for an EP that we’re going to be releasing at the end of this summer! We’re so excited to share these new songs with the world, we’ve had a blast writing them with some of our friends here in Nashville. This is going to be the first ever EP that we’ve released as well, so it’s going to feel so great to have a collection of songs and material out there that fans can listen to.
