“It’s been amazing” American singer-songwriter and producer Daniel Seavey smiles as describes the opening seven nights of his Second Wind World Tour, after jumping on a call with Goldenplec from the road. “The shows so far have been unbelievable, so so fun. I like to go into just about anything with high hopes and low expectations and didn’t want to hold my fans to expecting much and they totally shattered all my expectations, it’s been so so special and fun”.

The tour follows the release of Seavey’s debut solo album, Second Wind. After six years as a member of boy band Why Don’t We, Seavey had a whole different collection of tracks ready to release over a year and a half ago, one that would have dissected the breakup of the band, as well as the passing of his best friend in a car accident (from which Seavey pulled him from the wreckage), his parents divorce, his mother’s cancer diagnosis, and, to top it all off, declaring bankruptcy.

When it came to finalising the album’s release schedule, however, he realised that what he’d written hadn’t been a reflection of his true self, and so he scrapped everything and set out to create a body of work that showcased, in Seavey’s own words, “the lighthearted version of me”.

“I felt like I really was losing that guy” he continues, “Honestly, and it may sound cliche, but making this album really helped me rediscover that part of myself that I enjoy”. 

“There are still songs on there that deal with the tougher realities I went through” he adds, “‘If I Ever Went To Heaven’ says it pretty straight on and ‘The Older I Get’ has these moments where it contemplates the crazy curve balls of life, but for the most part I really flipped the whole album around and wanted it to feel light and positive and beachy, because that’s who I am at the core. I’m really proud of it because this album really pulled me out of a tough spot in my life and that’s all I’ve ever wanted my music to do for others”.

In conversation with Goldenplec, Seavey discusses the reception to Second Wind as he takes it on the road, finally writing music for himself, the decision to change the album’s name last minute, and touring with Benson Boone. 

How has the reception to the album been and hearing people sing the lyrics back to you? 

“It’s been such a gift to me. Honestly, I think this first go-around with my own music and especially this first album, I think I honestly did make a lot more selfish decisions. I really wanted this music to make me personally happy first and foremost, which is a big shift coming from a band where the main aim of our songs was to make music for the masses and generalise it, which was good for what it was at the time.

"This time around, I just had this itch to focus on the musically and purpose of things, I wanted some songs to be a bit weirder and things, and in doing that I took away any amount of expecting people to take this and run with it, it was just something I wanted to do for myself. Not that the fans weren’t a thought in the back of my head as well, I just tried to keep my expectations so low.

"I was just saying last night to my team, it’s kinda been a dream come true scenario in that all of the compliments I’ve been getting have been so fun for me. A dream of mine has to be appreciated for my production and songwriting and I’ve been getting a lot of compliments on that which is incredible, and this album is really validating for me and really boosted my confidence as a writer and an artist and been so fun to sing live".

How natural and intuitive has that switch been from making music in a band, thinking about the audience, compared to making music for yourself. Was it natural or did you have to think a little deeper about it?

“It was no problem because, honestly, while I was still in the band I was always making my own music at the back of the tour bus as a hobby, it was something I always loved doing. Now releasing that music was less easy, because in all that time that I was putting out successful songs with my band whilst making weird little songs like ‘Can We Pretend’ that were good, I think I built up such a big wall in my head that I could never release these songs and see anything come from it.

"I didn’t even realise how bad my confidence really was on my personal music, but I really had about zero belief in it. When I first put it out, it was me panically putting it out because my band was in lawsuits and it felt like the carpet was being pulled out from under me so I put it out and crossed my fingers. Since then I've been trying to keep that mentality of being as authentic to myself as possible because I even owe that to myself, but my expectations have remained low and I’m really surprised how much people have taken it and ran with it.”

You were very close to this being a self-titled album but you changed it last minute, could you tell me a little bit about going back on that decision?

“It’s funny, when I think about Daniel Seavey, that album will exist one day but there’s so much I want and will one day say to kind of have an album that really is about me and describing all the different aspects of me. This album randomly, unintentionally, became quite a conceptual album.

"A lot of the songs mention or make reference to the beach and the light and all these visuals of beachy scenery that was totally unintentional that are all over it so it just all made sense. Someone at the label said that the whole album feels like something of a Second Wind and I thought that was genius so we stuck with it.”

Speaking of that summeriness, you spoke as well about ‘Gateway Drug’ having a tonne of different versions, for example some sounding like Kings of Leon track; how far did that track in particular take to truly capture?

“That song took about two minutes to write and about six months to finish. I wrote that one very, very fast and hated it for six months. I just kept making all these different versions and changing the production, slowing it down, speeding it up, adding and removing electric guitars over and over, it was never ending.

"There was one version where I was referencing the 1975’s ‘I’m in Love With You’ and that was pretty cool, but the song overall was really tough to land but  I think the code I cracked was that one day I made the drum track the melody in the chorus and as soon as I heard it it all clicked into place.” 

As you’re heading into the EU leg of the tour, you spent a lot of last year supporting Benson Boone, what did you learn from watching him every night when it came to performance and putting on an electric show?

“Oh my god, he puts on an incredible show. You know what he really taught me? He helped bring me back to that state of really enjoying things again and being a kid again. He’s so new to it all, and it was so refreshing to go out with him and see his perception of it all and how he went about his day, his whole crew is his hometown friends, and he and I are both from Washington and we had so much in common that it just made it a really fun experience.

"It reminded me that we’re so blessed to have this much fun in our jobs. It’s really easy to make it all seem so serious but once you do it really takes the wind out of all the magic so it really reminded me to just take things as they come and to really enjoy it, because it is really special.”

Second Wind is out now. Daniel Seavey plays The Academy on 15th May. Tickets on sale now.