Los Angeles-based songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Simon Jay (one-half of Pop Production duo Chapters) continue broadening his horizons with each release. More recently, he hopped on the production for Tayler Holder's lush and feel-good new ballad, "It's You."
Simon Jay's client list includes familiar names like Olivia Rodrigo, Madonna, Richard Carpenter, Paul Anka, and many more. He's landed his works in HBO's Euphoria, Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson's The Man From Toronto, and tons more.
This time around, Simon Jay recently shared that he's been producing and serving as musical director for Tayler Holder, who performed in Nashville's CMA Fest and sold-out shows with Parker McCollum in Dallas. Holder recently released his passionate new single, "It's You," in which listeners get to experience his affectionate lyricism while Simon Jay paves the way with his tasteful production.
Expanding on the new single, "It's You," the song opens like a breath of fresh air with soft acoustic guitar picking and a distant country twang alongside Holder's soothing vocals. His passionate lyrics confess all the love and emotion he's bottled up, which are amplified tenfold by Simon Jay's ear-pleasing and sweet-sounding production.
The entire song feels like a dream; it's an incredibly well-rounded listening experience with ups and downs, twists and turns, and peaks and valleys that lead us to the person we were meant to be with. Simon Jay does an impeccable job of ramping up the sonic emotion to match Holder's lyrical passion; it's sort of like the feeling when you place the last two pieces of the puzzle together.
Show some love to the Chapters-produced new track from Tayler Holder, "It's You," now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Simon Jay. We loved every second of Tayler Holder's lush and spirited new track, "It's You." Was this the first song you produced for Tayler Holder? How long have you been working together?
Thank you so much! We worked really hard on "It's You," and I'm glad it's finally out for everyone to enjoy. The first song I produced for Tayler Holder was his single, "Human." It was at a time in his life when he was really struggling; we wanted to highlight the fact that we all go through rough times in life, and there really isn't any exception to that. That was back in January, and now here we are nine months later, making more love songs with him than ever before! What was it like working alongside Holder when creating "It's You"? What was your collaborative experience like?
Working with Tayler is amazing. He has a wealth of stories to tell. He's been through so much. Specifically for "It's You", we got to work with some really talented writers, Brody Clementi, Christian Clementi, Thomas Day, and of course my producing partner Luke Shrestha. Tayler and I were in Nashville back in June for CMA Fest. We were practicing in his hotel room, and we started playing the intro riff to the song. We put a couple of ideas down on paper, and later he finished it out with the rest of the guys after I had left for LA. The whole song is about the moment of realization when you want to be with someone, and no matter if you're on top of the world or have nothing at all, you'll always give your all to the person you love. Could you tell us more about your recent role as Tayler Holder's musical director? What made you want to take this position with him?
Being a Musical Director is such an incredibly difficult job, but also a rewarding one. Luke and I have a very specific philosophy when it comes to working with artists, and that is that we will do everything and anything in our power to bring an artist to their full potential. There are so many case-by-case problems that artists encounter in their careers, especially when playing live, and I feel like I really have the experience to solve them in a graceful manner. My experience began working with Rickey Minor, who is perhaps one of the most famous Musical Directors ever. Watching how experienced he was with bringing an artist's vision to life on the stage was really incredible. I learned so much from him and feel so grateful to have had such an incredible mentor. Do you have any words of advice for aspiring producers looking to achieve the successes you've accomplished? What helped you work with some of the industry's biggest names?
My word of advice would be, " a strong 'why' can survive any 'how.'" To me, this means that if you have a really strong reason for pursuing your dreams, then you can make it through anything. You really have to do some soul-searching to discover your 'why'. but it is certainly time well spent because this will give you almost every answer you can imagine. What's next for you?
I really want to finish the year strong. We have more songs coming out with Tayler Holder; one of them is probably one of my favorite songs I've ever made. We made it with one of my all-time favorite artists, and I'm honestly still in disbelief that it actually happened. We also have an EP coming out with the Canadian-based artist Vi. This project is one of the most personal to me, and I know it's going to be an important project in her career. Touch base with us again in a few months, and we'd love to talk about these when they're released! Instagram