Tayler Holder was already well-known by the time he turned his focus to country music. The Texas native currently boasts more than 20 million followers on TikTok, thanks to his ongoing engaging content, but it was a chance encounter with Dan + Shay‘s Shay Mooney that helped propel Holder’s music career, with their collaboration in writing “Drive,” out now.
“It was pretty wild. I’ve looked up to Dan + Shay, and listened to their music my whole life,” Holder tells Everything Nash.
Holder was attending CMA Fest, and hanging out with Parker McCollum and his wife, Hallie, at bartaco, when he unexpectedly ran into Mooney.
“It was before I lived here and I was just talking and hanging out. He was like, ‘Tell me about it what’s going on with your music,” Holder recalls. “I was like, ‘I’m looking to move out here. I just need to find people to write with. I don’t really know anybody out here.’ And he was like, ‘Dude, I would love to write something for you sometime.'”
Not only is Mooney a man of his word, but he didn’t waste any time in collaborating with Holder while he was in town.
“Literally the next day we got in the studio and wrote ‘Drive’ with a couple of buddies,” Holder says. “It was just the coolest experience ever. He is vocally one of the most insane singers I’ve ever heard in my life. It was wild.”
The video for “Drive” might look like it was a fun, carefree day, but in reality, Holder says it was one of the most challenging experiences he has ever had.
“I was so mad at them,” Holder says with a laugh, speaking of the director adding a lake scene. “I had to jump in there and just act like everything was okay. And it was one of those moments where I lost my breath for three minutes while I was in there. I just could not breathe. And it was so cold.”
Holder filmed the video with his good friend, Taylor, who he says handled the cold water scenes “like a champ,” even if she got the role last minute.
“We were trying to get somebody else actually for it,” Holder reveals. “We had plans with someone else, and then it was like literally I think the day before, and I said, ‘Look, I need some help right now. This sounds crazy, I know, but I need to know if you can be here tomorrow at like 8:00 AM and film all day for this music video that I’m doing.”
Holder was recently named CMT’s Next Up Now Artist. Find more information on Holder by visiting his website.