On Friday, Nashville-based lo-fi indie artist Vlad Holiday released his collaborative single “I Don’t Wanna Party Anymore” with singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves.
Holiday, known for songs “So Damn Into You” and “Phonograph,” has known he’s wanted to collaborate with Musgraves for a while.
“(I) asked her to sing on this song, and she was like, ‘F*** yeah,'” Holiday told The Tennessean. “We had been writing for a little while, mainly for her stuff, but I knew it would be pretty cool to just hear her voice on what I do,” he said.
“I think it came out pretty cool,” Holiday shared.
Holiday, a Bucharest, Romanian-born artist, fled to the U.S. in 1999, moving to New York. He relocated to Nashville about a year and a half ago after falling in love with the musical community in Music City and finding it to be a more affordable alternative to NYC.
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Holiday’s signature style is full of character, utilizing vintage microphones, tape machines and old recording equipment. And now, Holiday’s lo-fi New York sound has become infused with a Nashville edge in its songwriting and flair.
On Musgraves’ and Holiday’s new track, the two sing a sultry duet about the exhaustion that comes with a party lifestyle, sharing the choruses and trading off verses.
On the chorus, Holiday and Musgraves sing together: “Tell me to stay even though it’s getting way too late / I don’t wanna party anymore if I’m not doing it with you.”
With a seductive bassline, a dramatic and dark — but catchy — chorus and sensual guitar licks, the song is a genre-bending hit.
“All the lyrics came at the same time, and I was probably hungover, as I am now,” Holiday quipped. “It’s kind of about getting pulled into the party again night after night,” he said.
“And you’re just kind of like — I’m so over it, but then you do it anyway and it’s almost like, life’s too short to not keep having good times… until you can’t anymore physically.”
Holiday originally wrote a different tune at Battle Tapes Studio in Nashville with the same drums he used in “I Don’t Wanna Party Anymore.” He loved the drums, but grew to hate the original song he recorded over them.
So, he stripped the tune away and wrote a new song on top of it in a few hours.
“This one came really easily, and it’s very rare for me that happens,” he said.
Holiday talks singing with Musgraves: ‘She’s so humble…it kind of rewired my brain on what success needs to look like’
Holiday originally met Musgraves in New York when she visited with fellow music industry friends Natalie Osborne and Jacob Bryant.
“We would do these pretty epic hangs in New York. Over the years, they would come and visit because I was living there at the time. We had some crazy times together,” Holiday reminisced.
“I’ve never known anyone on her level of success,” he continued. “Something I was really drawn to was she’s so humble, she’s so down to earth, and it kind of rewired my brain on what success needs to look like.”
Holiday said it’s easy to look at musicians who’ve achieved that kind of fame as “aliens” or “other worldly,” but he’s learned that it isn’t always the case.
Alongside working on his own music, Holiday has also co-written for other Nashville acts.
On Cage The Elephant’s most recent album, Holiday co-wrote “Neon Pill,” “Metaverse” and “Over Your Shoulder.”
Holiday has also joined Cage The Elephant on some of their summer tour stops throughout August. While he isn’t opening on Cage’s Nashville date on Sept. 1, Holiday’s performed on eight shows on their tour, which he called a “dream come true.”
“I’ve been a huge fan for so long. When I met Matt (Shultz, Cage The Elephant’s lead singer), it was like I met a long-lost brother,” Holiday said.
“When he asked me to start writing with him…pretty damn cool. I mean, very much a bucket list thing,” he said. “It’s bad***, what a privilege to be a part of it.”
Nashville fans can catch Holiday’s upcoming solo show in town. On September 14, he’ll be performing at Nashville’s Blue Room.
To learn more about Holiday and grab tickets, head to vladholiday.com.
Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter for The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com.
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