ABC/Image Group LAWhile Dierks Bentley is well-known for his party anthems like “Drunk On a Plane,” “Somewhere On a Beach” and “What Was I Thinkin,'” the singer decided to switch and get more introspective on his new album The Mountain.
“I want to take fans to that place where you move beyond fun into that next thing of just feeling so alive,” he tells Billboard. “I can just see people out in the lawn seats listening to something like ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’ or ‘Living’ and [they feel] joy, like I’m hitting them on a deeper level.”
Dierks tells the publication that these days, he’s focusing on his own musical evolution; for example, the new songs on The Mountain are more about life than about love.
“Back when I was first starting off, love songs helped you get through a heartache,” he says. “Young me back then got beat up by love. I had a girl I was so crazy about, that, when she started seeing somebody else, my hair was coming out in the shower in clumps. I lost all this weight. Then I tried to work out to get over her and I got a hernia.”
But these new songs, he says, are about what’s important to him now: “life and living, being grateful, being present and being conscious of every moment.”
He explains, “On every record I’m trying to dig a layer deeper and be more authentic. I feel like this album is me just having the confidence to sing about where I’m from.”
Dierks’ ninth studio album, The Mountain, is out now.
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