Nancy Manet | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: It's called set us Fore. Another great track from Nancy Manette, who is here with us online via teams. I think, hey, Nancy, are you there?

0:08 Speaker 2: Hey I am, can you hear me?

0:10 Speaker 1: Excellent? Yeah, no, you sound great. Welcome to the program, welcome back, Thank you absolutely so tell us about so. At the top of the hour, we played Hey Little Brother, and and it looks like that's been pretty successful for you as a single.

0:25 Speaker 2: It has. Yeah, And you know, I know you you talk with so many amazing artists and we're always surprised, right, you know, we have our personal favorites are the ones that you know, we think will land, you know, very strongly with people, and then one that just takes off and you kind of like wow, you know, and and yeah it did, it did, and I'm really excited about it.

0:55 Speaker 1: So wow, you sound surprised, though, I mean, is there is there something about the song that you didn't think it was maybe as commercially viable as as it turned out to be, or really.

1:05 Speaker 2: Really good question. No. I think I was just super playful about about the song, and you know, it was for It was for a very good friend of mine who is ten years younger, and I call him my little brother, and he always calls me sis, and I just I just wrote this fun, playful song really kind of you know, as a tribute to him. And and you know, I mean because a lot of the other songs that we, you know, that I write, that we've even talked about, are heavily thematic in the sense of like I've got something very strong and and this was just just love and encouragement for my little bro.

1:48 Speaker 2: And uh, yeah, I'm excited because it is for all the little brothers out there. Yeah, you know, yeah for sure. So that's the reason, you know, because it just was one of those, you know, the people that that I love in my life, I'll write songs for them.

2:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's very cool. Is this is this the most successful single you've had thus.

2:09 Speaker 2: Far in commercial radio? Yes?

2:14 Speaker 1: Excellent?

2:14 Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely absolutely yeah.

2:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, and that and this is from the album is Paths? And when did this come out? This is this is your newest release, obviously.

2:26 Speaker 2: My newest release. It came out in May, okay, yeah, and so h hey, little Brother hit the airwaves in May and it's just been going ever since.

2:42 Speaker 1: Okay, So okay, yeah, and you've you've recorded quite a few right now, how many albums have you recorded now? Because it seems like a you've recorded a lot in a relatively short span of time.

2:55 Speaker 2: You really want to know the number, like the actual album number we're working on. I can't see your face, so I'm getting it like yeah, nodding your head.

3:05 Speaker 1: Yes, oh, yes.

3:08 Speaker 2: We are and high gen by the way, we are working on album number five.

3:15 Speaker 1: This is you're working on number five right now?

3:19 Speaker 2: Yes?

3:20 Speaker 1: Oh wow?

3:22 Speaker 2: Been completed in what a span of what?

3:25 Speaker 1: Two years? Yes, that's that's great.

3:30 Speaker 2: The first the first. The first album took longer to write because I was in the process of should I write an album?

3:38 Speaker 1: Right?

3:38 Speaker 2: Should What? What would I want to Well, not even what would I want to write about. I've pretty much knew what I wanted to write about. But it was more of the can I right, It was the can question? Can I do it?

3:51 Speaker 3: Not?

3:51 Speaker 2: Can I do it? From a skill set? Can I do it? Because I you know, can I do it? Because I was always told I couldn't. Right, So in twenty twenty I had to start kind of you know, doing my own healing process of like wait, yeah, of course I can, of course I can do that, you know, Like wait, I was told I couldn't, and then I listened to it, you know, So there was a lot of that I had to get through to get that first album written. But then which really would be probably the first one and two and then three, four and five have been in the last year.

4:27 Speaker 1: Okay, wow, Yeah, that's that's a lot of output in a short time. Do you think putting out so much music is what has led to your current chart success with a Hey Little Brother?

4:39 Speaker 2: Oh you know, yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess I've never thought about it that way.

4:47 Speaker 3: But.

4:49 Speaker 2: Yeah, well I will say this, just the churning of music maybe is not the complete answer, because you know, first of all, writing music, the more you write anything right, the more you do anything, the better we become at it. Right. So plenty of songs, Matt, that I've written and I've gone you know, or or they've started one way and I've shelfed them and I've pulled off and I've either completely you know, cut and pasted and just moved around, or just scrapped tons of the lyrics and I took the theme, or sometimes I just completely start over with a new melody.

5:35 Speaker 2: But the ideas are there, right, And so there's that component. Then there's I have a great producer, I really do, and he challenges me. And the one that we're in the process right now, the number five. There were some songs when we sat down, I've submitted everything. We sat down and I said, okay, I'm want to bring my thoughts and he's bringing his thoughts, and you know, a couple of our thoughts actually aligned and.

6:09 Speaker 3: Meaning.

6:10 Speaker 2: Like one of the songs, I said, I think this one needs to be revisited, and it was on his list, right. And he's always pushing and always challenging and always reminding me to do something different and expand my my, my, even my skill set. Just keep growing, keep growing as a musician, Nancy, keep growing as a singer, and show growth every single thing you do and write, push yourself further and further and further. And it's been it's yeah. So that's a longer version probably the answer to that question for now, for hey, little brother, because because of all of that, and I listen, you know, I think having the right collaboration and then being willing to listen to what the feedback is and push and stretch and grow, and you know, even musically, I'll do things that I've never even tried before.

7:14 Speaker 1: And you know, yeah, well, have you worked with the same has it been the same producer for each project?

7:20 Speaker 2: It has been?

7:21 Speaker 1: It has been Okay. Yeah, so you definitely found somebody who you can work with who brings out the best in you and has a lot of ideas. And that's great too, because you know, a lot of artists they don't want to hear a lot of artists don't want to hear ideas necessarily, you know what I mean. They want to go in and they know what they want to do, and and you know, the producer doesn't always know best necessarily. But it sounds like the person you're working with. Who are they, by the way, what what's their name?

7:48 Speaker 1: We should give them credit?

7:49 Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, David Percifal with Yellow Dog Studios. Okay, and yeah, so he's been He's been in the industry for forty plus years. Right, He's a great, ammy winning producer, has some very notable bands and experience under felt. And the thing about David Percival is that he never stops pushing himself. So, you know, the older that we get, we get we tend to get stuck right in our style or our ways. Or this is the way we do something, and he's constantly experimenting. So if I you know, I mean, I'm working with somebody who that is what he holds himself to, of course I'm I'm going to hold myself to that.

8:38 Speaker 2: I also, you know, I'm that's also kind of who I am. Never in my twenties, man, I coined well, I think it was already coined, but I heard it somewhere and then I made it mine right, never stop being teachable, Always be teachable. And that just meant a lifetime of curiosity and learning and listening. And you know, we have an agreement that that if he feels super strongly about something, he's really just I mean, he is going to tell me. And I don't like something that comes across in production, I'm I'm going to tell him.

9:19 Speaker 2: Like on the past album and people may have loved it, I could not. I couldn't do it. In the song that was in we had a Glockenspiel and I'm like, Dave, it's got to come out, that's all I hear. And he was like, Nancy, it's so fun. I'm like, it's gonna drive me nuts. And now post production and post mastering. Right, I'm like, now I only hear it, but nobody else knew what was there?

9:43 Speaker 1: Oh? Interesting?

9:44 Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, yeah it's funny.

9:47 Speaker 1: So now did you go onna? I saw something about a radio tour? Did you Did you go on a big radio tour for uh?

9:54 Speaker 2: I did? Just yes, and we're now we just spent so much time in the studio. I had to decide, Okay, what are what are the priorities? What what do we need to finish? What do we are? Because you can only go be so many places at once, right, yeah, that.

10:16 Speaker 1: Would be one exactly.

10:19 Speaker 2: I can only be in one place at one time. And so yes, so now we're so. Yes, we did the big radio tour, we did shows. Then we've just been hunkered down either in my home writing or doing things locally, doing private events and in the studio. So now we're gearing up to get back out, you know, to be on the road again.

10:46 Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And then so what's the plan long term as far as is that us Free going to be the next single? That I understand that correctly?

10:54 Speaker 2: Yes, it is okay thank you, which which is very anthemic, right. So I wrote it with really specific intent and we did drop it first in January. But I will tell you, Matt, I dropped it on January sixth. Yeah, and I was and I'm just going to be as raw and as vulnerable and we're just going to let it land where it landed. And you know, plus I talked with my therapist.

11:28 Speaker 2: I was actually scared, really like we just did what We just dropped what song on January sixth. That's basically saying we don't want It's not basically it's flat out saying we don't want what our grandparents built, and we don't want what our parents thought they could do without getting caught. Yeah, I'm calling my our parents' generation, not everyone, right, not everyone very specifically. I'm making some statements and I'm making them based upon what I've I've listened to, you know, always remain teachable.

12:03 Speaker 2: I'm listening to what the younger generations are saying, and they're saying, we don't want that, we don't want we don't even want what all of you guys went out to scrap and build and work so hard and all the stuff you've accumulated. We don't want it. We don't want that, we don't want war.

12:24 Speaker 1: Right, we want to get wrong. And yeah, did you say this, because we've talked about the song before too. Was there something too about a conversation, a specific conversation that you had with your daughter. Am I remembering that correctly?

12:37 Speaker 2: That's what started the whole thing, was that she sat me down and just you know, said, there's a better way to do business, mom, There's a better way to do life where you're not so exhausted, because right, I mean, we were taught to do it all and we hadn't to do it all, and we had to do it all with energy and never sleep. And it's the work ethic. And there's nothing wrong with the work ethic. Or my daughter's got a fantastic work ethic. Yeah, she's an amazing life where she actually builds in respite and she isn't driving herself into the ground by thirty nine years old, right, Yeah, So that's what I was doing.

13:18 Speaker 2: I was driving myself into the ground at thirty nine, It's true. Yeah, yeah, laughy, Yeah, I made it mad. I made it past forty. But they said I wouldn't, right, right, I didn't shift. And I think it's also the amount of stress and the amount of anger and the amount of hate and she's like, Mom, it's just we we don't want it. We don't want a world like that anymore.

13:43 Speaker 1: Yeah, you're yeah, you you write about a lot of I mean obviously, like you said, hey, little brother is playful, but you you write a lot about a lot of heavy stuff. I do.

14:01 Speaker 2: I do. I'm kind of laughing because there's some things I've not I've not to put music to. But I just I'm rite, you know. And as soon as I got off the phone with my daughter, I sat down and I wrote, I actually, yeah, I wrote those lyrics. I wrote those specifically after that conversation because I was so moved by what she had to say. Yeah, so came to January. I was actually pretty afraid of how that could land. Yeah, I was. Actually I think nobody understood what was going to happen in come January.

14:41 Speaker 2: I don't think we still do. And we're trying to navigate. And there was there was, you know, I mean, Matt, you know some of my backstory. There was there was some old patriarchal and there's nothing wrong with men, right that this is not an anti men thing. For me, that old model was very much what really kept me silent. Why I had to ask myself, can I do this right?

15:11 Speaker 1: Yeah?

15:11 Speaker 2: That's actually why, because I came from that old model that that really held or holds a lot of people down, a lot of people down. And so yes, of course when that came out, it's like, oh, oh, but we're leading off with it next month. So yeah, for long, I was just quiet about it for a few months.

15:35 Speaker 1: Has that changed it all, by the way over the course of because you know, like we talked about, you've been creating a lot of music. Has your as your approach or your priorities in terms of what you're singing about? Has that changed it all over the course of that, because obviously in the beginning, you know, you had a lot to get out. At this point, are you still trying to work all that out through the songs or or or has as yours as your your priorities in terms of what you sing about changed at all?

16:04 Speaker 2: So what you're saying that is, am I still singing about loss and trauma?

16:12 Speaker 1: Yeah? Well I suppose I am.

16:14 Speaker 2: Yes, Well, because that first work was really what I what I had done is I had weaved a story of my life. Yeah, and so that was a lot of a lot of that was I would say every song that was on that first work or the first two, right, because we've got a longer work that we did not release yet, and I would say that I had already gone through and processed that stuff. But now I'm putting it to music in a way that may and the hope is that it would resonate with others that are going through that. Right.

16:52 Speaker 2: But yes, the trauma and things like that. So the answer to that question is I still write from life, and I write from happy life, and I write from difficult life, and I write from painful life, and that that part is not going to change. I Oh, gosh, how do I want to say that? There are just different styles of writers?

17:27 Speaker 1: Yeah?

17:28 Speaker 2: And and sure do I want my music to be toe tapping? I want it to be you know, drawing in or a lot of ballads. I'm a ballad writer too, right, And so I want those to draw people, you know. My hope is that it draws people. But then but then eventually the lyrics hit right, like on the the number four I've written a song about, and they're not coming out in that order, just so that's clear, right, Yeah, we're not putting them so the technically the first album has not been released, and that won't be that'll be actually hanging out there for a while.

18:08 Speaker 2: The long one that you and I originally talked about, Okay, the seventeen song you know, rock Opera is right, it's a lot to digest. And my advisors really said, they're like, just let's let's write write albums for right now. Let's wait to bring that out. And that's that was the best advice. And if any artists are listening, listen to the advisors that have been in this world forever. Yeah, just listen to what they're saying. And so in next year a song's going to come out. That's about one of my best friends who lost her husband after thirty eight years of marriage, and it's her journey over the last four years of what she had to do to move on and just her thought processes in song format.

18:58 Speaker 2: Right. So when I first wrote it, it was probably eight minutes long. Yeah. I kept writing and writing and writing. I'm like, okay, now I have to trim, trim, trim, trim, Yeah, and then it was still very long. It was still five minutes, and I'm like, nope, got a trim trim trim trim trim. So, uh yeah, I do. I write from life. I write for my own life. I believe in therapy, I believe in healing, and and things always come up. They always come up. But I will say thematically I wouldn't necessarily from my own maybe because my life is settled a little bit.

19:35 Speaker 2: No, maybe from my own personal trauma. It's not so heavy. But I'm still writing thematically about things that I think about. Yeah right, yeah, things that I see happening in the world, things that are happening to people I know, see things that are just happening. Another one that's coming out addresses it addresses loss that's sudden, but it addresses It's specifically written about school shootings because I have a nephew that was in a school that in December had had a student shoot up a classroom.

20:17 Speaker 2: Oh my god, it is yes, and when that touches that close to home, my nephew is fine. But I know staff at that school. It was where my kids grew up, where I raised them, and it hit home very strongly. It was, you know, the school's three doors away from where my kids grew up, and so friends and teachers and community members in Madison, Wisconsin. All were affected, right, everybody has been rocked and turned upside down, and that's just that's not it. There's not even a great way to say it, right, it's just horrible, horrible and horrible.

20:55 Speaker 2: But then there's lighter songs, right of course for all the generation exers. We have one that's coming out too. So yeah, yeah, all right, answered your question.

21:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely, And I know too, you know, you're right. You write a lot about, you know, advocacy for LGBTQ plus and I think that's important too, especially in the you know, the times we're living in.

21:22 Speaker 2: Yes, so on the one we're in the middle of right now, I have one that very much specifically deals with their freedoms and are Hispanic friends Absolutely.

21:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, Okay, I don't.

21:43 Speaker 2: Even know what to say. You know, I'm born and raised in a suburb of LA and I live in Houston.

21:50 Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah, you no doubt no people or have known people who are affected. You no doubt no ah of people who have been affected by what's happening, or or are worried about being affected by what's happening. Yes, yeh, scary scary stuff, but but you know, certainly worth making music about. You know. That's that's I mean, you know, that's one of the best delivery systems for for for putting, you know, trying to put a message out there and expressing your concern about what's going on, you know.

22:21 Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, Man, in my writing, I I hope to be a bridge. So the last name Manet actually you know it's it's the artist who bridge to generations of art, right. I take his example from realism to Impressionism. He taught money, and I thought about my life and just where I've been throughout my life and the opportunities I've been given, and where I tend to settle or not settle as far as like I'm settling, but where I land right, Yeah, and Pendaland is in a space of bridging, right, bridging two schools of thought, bridging two generations.

23:10 Speaker 2: You know, we've got the younger generation and the older generation.

23:14 Speaker 1: And it's.

23:19 Speaker 2: Hopefully like if you could see me, my hands are all stretched out, why, bridging thoughts and ideas and helping to cross this divide. And if anything that I write can can even just cause pause and for people to think even things lighter. You know, hey, little brother right. It is a light and fun song. But if we listen, you know, you aren't afraid to lead the way into the unknown. That means you're daring, as a little brother to the world, right to like venture out side of what you were told even as a child you had to be like, right, you're not afraid to do it, and you're leading the way on it, and and and so those have certain themes in it of encouragement and stepping out of who you know, what always has been and asking why And we're not all going to agree, and we were never supposed to all agree, right, I just don't think we were supposed to be positioned with, you know, war heads at each other all the time.

24:29 Speaker 2: I just don't think that that was the plan either, right, right. So you know, Matt, you know how when you tune a guitar, it takes tension, right, It takes tension to tune a string, Yeah, to bring it into the right frequency, to bring it into harmony. And the only way to do that is we have to have tension. But if we have too much tension, it snaps right enough tens you can't even tell what it is, right.

24:58 Speaker 1: Exactly. Oh, Nancy, just froze. Whoops, Oh what her screen is her screen is frozen? Oh no, uh yeah, well she did mention she was having internet issues.

25:18 Speaker 2: Yeah, that has been a bit of an issue for her today.

25:21 Speaker 1: Okay, I wonder if she's like, is she in the city or out in the I don't know, I don't know. It is late in the show. Oh, it's probably her on the phone. Good good, Hey Nancy, is that you?

25:35 Speaker 3: It is power again?

25:37 Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah. All of a sudden, it froze the screen. I noticed the screen was frozen. I said, oh, that's why she's not talking.

25:47 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, right, Well, so I hope this is okay.

25:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, okay, Yeah, no, that's fine. Uh yeah, We're we're getting We're gonna have to wrap up soon anyway. But I'm glad. I'm glad you were able to call because I do want to ask you about to finish out the segment, we're going to play this track. Oh, Son of Mine. This is another one of the songs that you sent us that that I really like, and I wanted you to tell us about this, you know, any anything we should know about this track?

26:16 Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. Well, it was a toss up for which one was going to radio next this one or set us Free.

26:22 Speaker 2: So we did.

26:23 Speaker 3: We did a test market, and not because it isn't a great track. We just had some people feedback like the time was now right, yeah, set us Free. But here is what well, well, it's a very personal song to me because it was written for my son. And my son is thirty years old now. But you know, he at twenty two bought a house and when COVID hit, he sold that house and moved to the Houston region and ended up having to live off the propheeds of what he's sold his house for. And he was really bummed and he felt, you know, he felt like a failure.

27:08 Speaker 3: He had trouble getting back on his feet, he had trouble getting work again, and it's taken him a while to dig back out. And in his discouragement, I wrote this song and sent it to him and I said, anytime you're feeling low, I want you to hear this. And even some other friends of mine that were talking about their sons and the discouragements that they were feeling, and I said, so this is for our sons out there, no matter no matter who you are or where they are. Everybody that I've ever talked to their sons have gone through you know, down cycle and they've had to pull back up.

27:52 Speaker 3: And I my bigger and broader hope for this song is that young sons, you know, in that twenty somethings, you know, that teenage years, that they may find encouragement and hope that they can keep going and they can start again, and they can they can always rebuild, and they can always always remember that they are loved.

28:18 Speaker 1: Excellent. No, I think that's fantastic and certainly very relatable. So we're going to play that in a moment. One more thing, Nancy, where should people go online to keep up with everything that you're doing and find your music and everything you got going on. Where's the best place to go?

28:32 Speaker 2: Uh?

28:33 Speaker 3: Primary? Nancy, Mine m A N E T dot com. Okay, and find me on Facebook. I am on Instagram, but I am on Facebook more. Okay, I would say that. So I'm on Facebook, and really follow and send me a direct message because I respond personally and I love to act with people. So send me a message to my website. Send a message on Facebook. I'd love to hear from you, absolutely, and watch the website for the updates of a tour coming near you, guys.

29:14 Speaker 1: Oh fantastic. Oh hopefully we can see you personally. That would be great. That would be awesome.

29:19 Speaker 3: That would be that would be I would be honored to have you there.

29:23 Speaker 1: Thank you, definitely wonderful. All right, So we're going to hit that track, Nancy, we will let you go. I hope the rest of your day in terms of the Internet is better. But technology will fail us at times. I know the pain.

29:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you for being flexible and gracious and as always you two. I'm just really I'm really grateful to be a part of your show and have you guys on this journey with me. So thank you. Oh well, we're being who you two you are.

29:53 Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Nancy. We appreciate that very much, and we appreciate you and and we wish you continued success and we'll talk soon again. And I'm sure.

30:02 Speaker 3: Absolutely I would love it. Okay, thank you guys, and thanks again for rolling with today's internet.

30:06 Speaker 2: Oh you guys have the best, no.

30:08 Speaker 1: Worries, healthy internet, healthy Internet. That's right, all right, Nancy Manet, thank you so much.

30:14 Speaker 3: Next time in person. There you go, guys, have a good one

30:16 Speaker 1: YouTube, bye bye bye.