Kenny Chesney knows what he wants from his latest album, BORN, and it isn’t more accolades, awards or hit singles at radio. For Chesney, what will make the record a success, at least in his eyes, is much more personal.
“I think the best thing someone could say about this album BORN is that it reflects me, is that it’s genuine,” Chesney said. “It’s not made-up, and there’s just a lot of me on it. It’s a fun record to listen to. It’s an emotional record to listen to. It’s a mirror to my life, and I think that’s what I would say when somebody asked me what do you want people to hear from this? What do you hope they take away from it? And that would be it.”
Although unintentional at the time, at least in the beginning, all of the songs on BORN became a message Chesney felt compelled to the rest of the world.
“Without even knowing it, there is a thread of breaking out of the mundane existence in our lives,” Chesney explained. “All these same neural pathways we travel, whether it’s the same road to work, or it’s the same way we do certain things, that can create this mundane existence. And when I first cut the song ‘Born,’ the title track, I thought about that. There’s a song on the record called ‘Just To Say We Did’ that is truly about just that. It’s more about connection actually, and that’s also a big theme of this record.”
“I just felt like those two songs kind of started down that path, and by the time I was done with it, I had four or five songs that felt in that space of human connection, living your life to the fullest and breaking out of your mundane existence,” he added.
It was “Born” that dictated the direction for the rest of the songs on the project, from the heartbreaking “Wherever You Are Tonight” to the feel-good “Just To Say We Did,” his current single, “Take Her Home,” and more.
“When you listen to ‘Born,’ there’s a whole lot of truth about living, life, the big questions and what we’re all trying to experience,” Chesney shared. “That banjo out front really throws you into the song, which feels great. I love a lyric that throws out all the options, but it never actually tells you what to do. Here it comes down to one existential truth, no matter who you are or what you’re chasing: ‘one thing’s for certain, we’ve all been living since the day we were born.’”
Chesney recently opened up about why he works so hard, harder than most, spending three years making BORN the best it could be.
“I’m terrified of being complacent, and failure,” Chesney admitted on Today’s Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist. “We always get into a stadium market on a Friday, and on a Friday after sound check, I’ll go to the very top and sit just by myself. I want to be grateful for what’s happened, and just reflect on all the years to get to this spot.”
Chesney will kick off his Sun Goes Down Tour on April 20 in Tampa, Florida, with Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker serving as his opening acts. The tour will conclude with three shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on August 23, 24 and 25. Find all of Chesney’s music and tour dates at KennyChesney.com.