Exclusive Interview with Singer/Songwriter Cody Fry
Cody Fry, an artist who has been carving out the pop scene in Nashville for a couple of years and produces his own music, recently released his newest album Flying, which includes a full orchestra. Filled with infectious beats, Fry’s album is sure to be one of your new favorites. To find out more about this up-and-coming singer/songwriter, keep reading!
What has your musical journey been like up to this point?
Depends on where you want to start, I guess! When I was a kid I sang on lots of TV and radio commercials. My dad was a jingle writer and a lot of his clients needed kids’ voices for the spots, like for McDonald’s Happy Meals or whatever. So I started with music at a pretty young age. I didn’t start writing my own songs until I was in high school. I sold my homemade CDs of original music out of a duffel bag like some sort of music drug dealer. As an artist, things started to pick up a little bit after I graduated college. One of my songs (“Find My Way Back”) was placed on a TV show that turned out to be really cool, and my song “Underground” did a million streams in a few months. To this day I am not really sure what drove those streaming numbers. I toured a bit and got to play some of my own shows. That’s my whole life condensed into one paragraph.
How long have you been pursuing music professionally?
If you include the commercials I sang on as a kid, a pretty long time. I went to college for music and started touring as a side musician immediately out of college. I graduated in 2012, so maybe 5 or 6 years? Hard to say. I’ve always known I wanted music to be my career, so I am not 100% sure how to calculate “professional” years vs. “I was 15 and thought I was a professional” years.
What are you most excited about with the release of your album Flying?
It’s exciting to see the different reactions people have to this new music. I’ve been working on this album for so long wondering what people are going to think, and now I get to find out!
If you could describe the overall message of Flying what would it be?
A lot of Flying is about taking risks and putting yourself out there, being vulnerable. And that comes in many forms. Obviously, a tune like “Flying” is about literally jumping off of a cliff, but there are much smaller acts of courage that I wanted to capture as well. Even a song like “Nobody but You,” which is a pretty straight-ahead love song, carries the idea of vulnerability—it takes a lot of courage to say to someone, “I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”
Why did you choose “Nobody But You” as a single?
Some of the songs on the album take a bit of time and context to understand. “Nobody but You” is more of a fully-packaged song than some of the others. When you’re choosing a single, you want to give people a peek at some of the deeper songs on the album, but not get too deep. Ultimately, I just liked the way “Nobody but You” came out. Feels like it could be blasting on the radio with the windows down.
Do you have a favorite song you wrote that didn’t make it onto this album?
Wow, great question. Actually yes. I wrote a song called “If Only My Heart Could Speak” that I really wanted to put on the album. It is more along the lines of “Falling In Love,” sort of a jazz-standard piano vibe. “Falling In Love” holds down that space pretty well, so we decided to bench “If Only.” I think I will record it at some point, hopefully soon.
What do you want listeners to take away from your music?
I had so much fun making the record, I hope that people can hear that in the songs. I also worked more hours than I can count, putting every ounce of my heart and soul into this music.
Who are some of your musical inspirations?
I draw from all over the musical spectrum. Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, anything Max Martin produces. All the way to Debussy, Chopin, Beethoven, and film composers like John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Dario Marianelli. James Blake, Coldplay, Kenny Loggins, Toto, John Legend, Brad Mehldau, Bon Over, Brooke Fraser, sorry this just became a list of my recently played on Spotify. There’s just so much good music out there. It’s an inspiring time to be an artist.
Cody’s album Flying is out now, along with the single “Nobody But You.” You can find it on iTunes or Spotify.