Good Things

“We think we delivered our best album of our career so far,” Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers tells Apple Music of Good Things, which follows the pop-country duo’s 2018 smash self-titled third album. That may sound like a bold statement, but Smyers and bandmate Shay Mooney certainly deliver the hits on Good Things, which features massive singles like “Glad You Exist”, “I Should Probably Go to Bed” and the Justin Bieber-assisted pop crossover “10,000 Hours”, which won the duo a Grammy at the 2021 ceremony and shattered streaming records upon its release. While the COVID-19 pandemic halted touring, the time off gave Smyers and Mooney an unexpected amount of time to round out the LP. “We were able to dive in like we would on our first album and just spend every waking minute of the day,” Smyers says, “really, really refining it and making it the best that we possibly could.” Fans of the duo’s infectious, hook-laden take on commercial country will have plenty to dig in to on Good Things, thanks both to Smyers’ production and musicianship (he plays many of the instruments across the LP) and Mooney’s inimitable voice. The title track boasts a sneakily complex arrangement, with layer upon layer of harmony vocals making for a massive earworm of a chorus. “Lying” sonically channels Mooney’s roots singing in church. And “Body Language”, a catchy, clever co-write with pop superstar Shawn Mendes, is sure to be another crossover success for the duo. Below, Mooney and Smyers walk Apple Music through several key tracks on Good Things. “Good Things” Dan Smyers: “‘Good Things’ was actually the first song that we ever wrote on Zoom, which is crazy to say. We wrote that on Zoom with a couple of friends of ours, Ashley Gorley, Jason Evigan and Ross Copperman. It brought us back to the old days of when we moved to Nashville, writing with just an acoustic guitar. Somebody has a title or a concept and you start writing down words and coming up with melodies, rather than what it's evolved to wher