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Russell Dickerson’s highly-anticipated third studio album, featuring PLATINUM certified hit single “She Likes It,” is out today! The country star sat down with HollywoodLife.com for an EXCLUSIVE interview about the self-titled record, and curating a collection of his “15 favorite songs” for the project. “There were a million to choose from, and instead of approaching it as this ‘grandiose, thematic’ thing, I just wanted this album to be my 15 favorite songs,” Russell explained. “That’s kind of the self-titled vibe for me. I could have called it ‘Blame It On Being Young,’ and it could have been a bunch of nostalgic songs, and there are songs on there like that. But it’s just like, Russell Dickerson is here. Here’s 15 songs, and it’s just my 15 favorites.”
The “I Wonder” singer served as a co-producer and co-writer on each track, and revealed that he started working on the collection of new music in 2021, following the 2020 release of his sophomore album Southern Symphony. “After being in lockdown and not touring, I feel like I was very rested and like my brain was working again, and that’s why I feel like I was able to dig way deeper than I have on any album before,” Russell admitted. “To go back to when I was 16 with ‘Blame It On Being Young’ and relive all those all those stories, like getting brought home by the cops and tee-peeing people’s houses — to dig back into those memories and having the brainpower to do that, I think that’s why there is kind of a nostalgic common theme throughout the album. I was rested and I had the brainpower to go revisit those memories.”
The country star, who just finished up touring with Tim McGraw through the summer, admitted that he heavily considered his live shows while building RD3. He told HL that he tested out some potential new songs while out on the road this summer as soon as he wrote them, just to make sure it “connected with the fans.” “It’s always my number one, trying to figure out how this song or this song will translate to a live audience, because I feel like we are always touring. I love it,” he said. “Even with ‘Blue Tacoma’ and ‘Every Little Thing,’ I love just bouncing these songs off of fans, checking Twitter and Instagram to see if they think the new songs are a vibe.”
Someone else Russell is always bouncing ideas off of is his musically-inclined wife, Kailey Dickerson. “She’s very involved,” he admitted. “She’s very savvy. She hears every song I write and whenever we’re driving in the car, we’ll listen to the songs from the week before that I cut. I trust her ear for sure.”
At the end of the day, Russell’s new record is an end result of him staying in his own lane and “betting on” himself from the start of his career. “I show up every day and I am Russell Dickerson. It doesn’t matter what is popping off right now, it doesn’t matter who is the biggest artist in the world. I have to fight it every day, but I just am going to keep on being Russell Dickerson,” the “Love You Like I Used To” singer said. “I can only be Russell, and nobody else can be me.”
Russell Dickerson is out now and available to stream here!