Dan + Shay have been duo mates, and friends, for more than ten years, with their relationship only growing stronger as the years continue. As Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney work on their forthcoming fifth studio album, both men say they are heading into their next season as strong as they’ve ever been, both musically and in their relationship with each other.

“We’re in the best place personally, as friends, as brothers, more so than we’ve ever been,” Smyers tells Audacy’s Rob + Holly. “We’ve just connected on a level that we’ve never been on before. Especially in the writing room, we’re just writing the best songs of our career. That’s what we’re focusing on…. You’re gonna hear that in the music when it comes out. Hopefully this year we’re gonna start rolling out some of that music.”

Both Smyers and Mooney have often compared their relationship to a marriage, built on commitment and a lot of give and take. With a decade behind them, and a lifetime ahead of them, Mooney feels more grateful than ever for Smyers, and their shared career.

“Our friendship has definitely deepened,” Mooney says. “We’ve gone through a lot together at this point. It is, in a lot of ways, like a marriage. We’re both married now, and we know what that’s like, and it takes that kind of commitment and sacrifice in a relationship like this. I think we’re just in a really good place right now, and when we get together to write songs, we’re having a lot more fun than we ever have,

“I think just because we’re feeling a bit more freed up to write what we want to write – not that anyone was ever like, ‘You have to write this’ – I feel like we just feel a little bit more free to be able to write what we know,” he adds. “It’s just been a lot of fun to get together and have fun making music again.”

Dan + Shay are grateful for the success they are having now, but they have a lot of appreciation for the beginning of their career as well, even the hard times.

“We were having so much fun in those early years – the pressure builds,” Mooney says. “There’s a lot of pressure on you to be able to come out with great music and you don’t have time. You’re not being able to sit down and write songs like you were in the very beginning. We’ve had that time in the last couple of years. And that was just, I think, the biggest blessing that we’ve had in our careers is just a little bit of time and to just breathe.”

“You,” Dan + Shay’s current single, is in the Top 20. Find music and tour dates at DanandShay.com.