Big Machine RecordsThe Band Perry has been working on their upcoming third studio album for a year and a half now, but the lead single, “Live Forever,” came pretty late in the creative process. The sibling trio had what they considered to be the centerpieces for the album in place, but they needed the perfect song to serve as the “gigantic hello” for the project.
The Band Perry’s Kimberly Perry tells ABC Radio, “When we wrote ‘Live Forever,’ we were like, ‘This is absolutely what we have to start the process with.'”
“Live Forever” is a collaboration between The Band Perry and pop producer RedOne, who is best known for his work with the likes of Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull. Working with RedOne gave the Perrys the anthemic vibe they were going for with “Live Forever.”
Neil Perry explains, “[RedOne] is Swedish and Moroccan, I think. I think the combination of that really brings quite a lot of input into the writing of the song. He just knows how to pull out a hit melody.”
The Band Perry also worked with DJ/producer Diplo and pop star Pharrell Williams for their next project, but the band members insist this new project isn’t a bid to leave country music. If anything, The Band Perry is bringing those pop acts into the country realm.
“I think Diplo didn’t realize how much of a country music fan he was until we went into the room,” says Reid Perry, “and then you have people like Pharrell, who’s been trying to write country songs his whole life. So, for us, it was really cool to find those people, especially out in LA.”
While they worked hard to raise the bar and stretch themselves, The Band Perry had a motto in the studio to help them stay true to their roots.
Kimberly explains, “We kind of said, ‘Authenticity and something excellent.’ That’s what we want to walk out of the studio with, and pretty proud that we’ve done that. I think it’s the best collection of songs so far, in our humble opinion.”
The visually-stimulating video for “Live Forever” debut over the weekend on CMT.
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