Interview: Singer-songwriter Sean Doherty hits the ground running with “Boys in the Backseat”

“Put the peddle to the metal, I don’t wanna settle.”

You can’t ask much more of a song than a killer hook and a great rhyme and in his first single, the queer rock anthem “Boys in the Backseat,” singer-songwriter Sean Doherty gives us that and more.

Everything was coming up Sean in early 2020. Final calls for major theatre roles, on the brink of his big break. Then, as it did for everyone, COVID hit and shut down the world. The theatre world was especially hit hard and for some, like Sean, he powered down during lockdown to conserve energy, to conserve sanity. But it was also the resilience of a performer and an artist, someone who constantly faces a windstorm of ‘no’ but pushes through that got him through. And push through he did and re-energized his love of songwriting, of creation.

Inspiration struck late last year with a spontaneous trip to Los Angeles and working through production and songwriting classes and the generosity of Grammy-winning mega-producer Jack Antonoff, who supplied indie artists with dozens of free samples to use to kick off their own songs, arrangements and works. What came from that was an explosively energetic and unapologetic LGBTQ+ anthem as evocative and timeless as it is current. So, Jack, if you’re reading this, I think I have a hot new artist for you to collab with.

STREAM “Boys in the Backseat” now: [Spotify] [Amazon] [YouTube] [Apple Music]

I talked with Doherty this week about his new single, struggling with COVID (literally), our lord and savior Carly Rae Jepsen, Raised by Wolves, how Lil Nas X is blowing the doors off of the music industry and his new song dropping later this fall.

Erik Anderson: Let’s just start right at the beginning. What is the Sean Doherty origin story?

Sean Doherty: Oh my goodness. What a huge, wonderful question. Oh my gosh. I guess basically, I grew up in a very, very small town. It’s Hampshire, Illinois, outside of Chicago. Quite literally in a cornfield. And just kind of spent my childhood being a little just normal kid. I was never really ever doing any sort of performance and stuff until I was probably 16 where I had a choir teacher. I had always done choir and sang in a group. But I was like, I do not want anyone to hear me by myself. I was super terrified of perform by myself. I had a choir teacher, Chris Cherry, who I’m still friends with to this day, which is great. And he pushed me to audition for a bunch of stuff.

And then slowly started doing musicals. Got to the point where I was doing community theater in Hinsdale, Illinois for most of my junior and senior year of high school. The directors of that and my choir teacher, Mr. Cherry, all had gone to the same school, which was Milliken University. They told me I should audition at Milliken. I did. I actually went to Milliken to audition for the musical theater program and interview for the nursing program on the same day. And got into both. And I was like, well, if I’m going to try this, I might as well try it when I’m 18. And if it goes horribly my first year, I can just switch, and I’ll have my gen eds, and I’ll just go to do nursing. And then I kept doing it. I got my first Broadway call back that year. And I was 18. And I was like, okay, this feels it’s going pretty okay. And then started working every summer at professional theaters, graduated with my Equity card, moved to New York.

EA: That’s actually a pretty fast tracked story. I mean, you weren’t like the girl in Kansas who take the bus to Los Angeles, and kind of has the big hopes and dreams. You kind of just went there.

SC: Yeah, it kind of felt like I just kept kind of landing in situations of being people keep telling me that this is something that I should continue doing. And I do enjoy it so I’ll continue doing it. And I think the musical theater side of things came from the music of it all Because I’ve always been a very big music person. Growing up, I was always the kid listening to his little Walkman. And I was always listening to music. And I was kind of a loner through most of my childhood. And then I had a couple very good friends, but mostly I was just listening to music, and just kind of by myself for a while. And then I got to high school and started doing theater. And that was when I discovered a bunch of other people me. And was like, oh, you’re all like this. We can all hang out. This is great.

EA: Because you are a performer at heart, tell me a little bit how much COVID impacted you the last couple of years, and how you managed just with sanity and life without having, not just the outlet, but the livelihood.

SC: I mean, it got me real, real bad. March 2020, I want to say all of February was probably the best my career was ever going. And I was in multiple final callbacks for multiple shows. Some of them very, very big ones. And everything kind of felt like I was like, oh, I feel I’ve really been working so hard for a very long time to make sure I finally feel comfortable myself as a performer, what I stand for. And I feel like I’m walking into rooms and representing myself well, and it was finally paying off.

I had booked a show that I was supposed to do. That’s a whole ‘nother story. But I was supposed to do a show that I was cast in. A dream director, it was a dream role. And I was supposed to do it that summer. And so everything just felt it was happening. And then all of a sudden it was just stop. And I’m usually, I can be up optimistic and be like, it’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine. Instead I kind of when we went into lockdown, I also I got COVID March 15, 2020. Lost my sense of taste and smell. Was super exhausted. Was unsure if I actually had COVID because nobody really knew what the symptoms were, and I couldn’t get a test anywhere because we didn’t have testing. And so it was just kind of a scary, terrible brick wall that happened where all of a sudden everything sort of stops.

And the way I dealt with it was kind of what I call power safe mode. I basically just kind of went into this bare minimum. I would wake up. Me and my of roommates would be like, we’re going to do some sort of workout together once a day so we just are taking care of ourselves. And we have one thing that we know we have to do every day because having some sort of schedule is super helpful. And then otherwise I pretty much just slept and played video games, and just kind of detached from everything for, I want to say, two or three months. I look back, I’m like it was not a good time. But I think that was the healthiest way for me to deal with suddenly everything like I felt I’d been working towards for 10 years is just gone. Yeah. So it was not a great time. But those first few months were very, very hard.

EA: It seems like, and I think for a lot of people too though, it did give you these sort of foundational elements that sort of give you this I can deal with anything now kind of feeling. And I’ve seen that with a lot of people.

SC: Yeah, absolutely. I mean it’s kind of now it’s one of those things where if I have an audition I’m nervous about, I’m just like I have an audition. At least this is already a much better situation than what we’ve been in. And I will say being here in Florida, I’m performing again. And we have all the protocols. The audience has to be masked and they’re all pretty far away from us. And we’re the only people in the building that are unmasked when we’re moving throughout to do the show. But just being on a stage again is wild. And we have a pretty brutal schedule. It’s nine shows a week. But it’s so nice. Before and after the show, I’ll be like, okay, I’m exhausted. Or I’m really like I got to get my energy up to do the show. But then in the back of my mind, I’m like, oh my God. How lucky am I to be tired again from performing for people that are actually in front of me.

EA: Well, and performing in theater was hit the hardest of pretty much any media because they were still making movies and still doing TV shows because you can close a set and you have fewer people. And that’s just not the case with a full audience of people. So theater was just hit so much harder.

SC: And there’s just such a difference. I think at the beginning I was asked to do one of those zoom Concerts or something like that, a Zoom reading. And I was like, you know what? Yeah, we’re going to make it work or whatever. And after doing one of them, I was like, for my own heart, I can’t do another one because it’s just not the same. There’s a delay in the sound, and no one’s in the same room, and everything is kind of detached. And everyone was still learning how to do all online anything. And I was like, you know what? This kind of makes it makes it hurt more because I miss being in a room with these people. And so now that we can have that back in some capacity, seeing all of the clips of Broadway reopening is so exciting.

EA: It is. It’s great time right now.

SC: Yeah. And especially because it seems New York is still doing relatively well in the grand scheme in terms of maintaining cases and stuff that. I still have my little COVID app on my phone. And I checked it today because I’m going back soon. And I was just like, oh, it’s going to be nice to go back to a place that takes care of its people.

EA: What I wanted talk to you about today too is your new single, which I’m super excited about. I love it.

SC: I’m so glad.

EA: And readers, let me tell you, it’s a banger. It is an iconic queer anthem, and it’s available everywhere where you stream music and it’s called “Boys in the Backseat.” [Spotify] [Amazon] [YouTube] [Apple Music]

SC: That’s true. That’s true.

EA: Let start with, tell me some of the inspirations that you had with this song. Because I think I told you this on Twitter, it’s different than what I’m familiar with mostly with you with your stage performances and theater and those type of shows. This is a very different Sean Doherty for me. So what was the inspiration?

SC: Yeah. So I’ve been writing my own music in general for probably five or six years. But it was kind of just a me thing. And every once in a while, I would put a little something on Instagram with me at the piano. And I’m a terrible piano player so it was always just kind of I made something. If anyone likes it, cool. But I’m not doing anything with it.

Then I want to say it wasn’t until December, me and my boyfriend Ashton were offered the chance, a friend of ours had an open room in LA. And both of us were like, well, if we’re going to be sad about the state of the world, let’s be sad and not cold too. Being sad, and then also having seasonal depression didn’t seem ideal. And so we’re like, if we have the chance and we can do it safely, let’s go to LA for three months. And so we stayed with our friend out there.

While I was there, I was like, I need something to do. And so I started taking this class through monthly.com, which is it’s kind of Masterclass, but they do it in a one month session. And it’s a lot of work in a short period of time. And I did a class on music production and songwriting made by Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic. And I was taking that class. And taking a class from somebody that writes so many pop songs and so many genuine bangers, I was like… And I was kind of looking to a lot of my stuff is very introspective, sad indie folk. And I kind of always felt I left myself in that box, and I kind of wanted to see what happened if I went out of it.

That’s when I realized how much the way Ryan Tedder writes a lot of his music is he’ll grab a sample of something, and just listen and then write a song around that. And then eventually you take the sample away and you make it your own thing so you’re not just sampling everything. I mean, you can also still sample. Sampling is a massive part of making music. But I didn’t realize that. In my brain, I always had to write everything from scratch. And I was like, oh, I can take inspiration from things.

One thing that happened in the pandemic was that Jack Antonoff dropped a bunch of sample packs that he was like, “These are free to use. You can put them in your songs. You can do whatever you want with them.” He was like, “I have access to Electric Lady Studios and all these insane pieces of equipment that would cost all of you thousands and thousands of dollars.” And he goes, “So here’s the sound of what a snare on this drum machine sounds.” And just so you would have that and you can then do whatever you want with it.

So the song started there. There was a drum loop from a LinnDrum machine that he had. And I want a drum machine so bad in real life. But he had this loop and I was listening to it. And I was like, what if I just put this down? And then I just playing. And that’s where that little synth figure from the beginning came from.

EA: I love the opening so much.

SC: I’m so glad. I’ve been so glad to see that people enjoyed it. Because I was kind of like, I just want to release a single to say that I did it. Because I was like, I didn’t know that I could just do that on my own. Not on my own. I had had lots of help. But I didn’t know that was something that I could do without a label, or something, or you can just do it. But I did say if I wanted to do it, I wanted to do it right. So then I made a demo. Initially it was with that drum loop.

And then I kind of hit a point in terms of mixing and production where I was like, I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. And I was like, I just hit a wall where I was like, I’ve learned a lot in the last year. I have hit my limit and I think it’s time for me to get help from others. Because I knew that I wanted the song to grow in certain ways and to evoke more. I knew the sound I wanted. I just didn’t quite know how to make it happen.

And so that was when I was introduced to Lloyd Kikoler, who’s my producer, and he’s now my go-to person who I’m obsessed with him. He’s perfect. But he’s the type of person where I was like, and I’ve been looking for this person forever where I could send a piece of music to him, and I was just like, “Yeah, I don’t know. I kind of just want it to sound like Bruce Springsteen, but gay.” And then he’d send something back. And I’d be like, “How did you know that’s exactly what I wanted?” He was like, “Well, if you take a drum machine, and then you layer it with live drums…” And I was like, what? So much cool stuff like that. And so that was kind of when things opened up a lot. And I realized, especially working with somebody else who kind of has a different viewpoint, it kind of dragged me out of this idea that I only could write coffee house music. And be like, no, what if I wrote a rock song?

EA: And it is. Even though summer’s over, it’s still my song of summer, and I don’t care what anybody says.

SC: I kind of wanted it to be a farewell to summer song. Because the way I always described it when I was talking to Lloyd is I was I want it to feel the emotion you feel when it’s the end of summer, and everyone’s already been messy all summer. And there’s lots of just unspoken connections between everybody in your circle. And you walk into a bar and there’s somebody there, and you’re like, I shouldn’t hook up with this person, but they’re going to be there. And I’m probably going to hook up with person.

And it’s that combination of that’s going to be a mess, but also I’m so excited to see that person. And kind of how you’re like, well, I’m not going to stop it. It’s just going to happen, I guess. I guess I’m making bad decisions. And I kind of want it to feel like that high speed, just kind of embracing the mess of it all. And the only the way that I feel like the end of a summer can feel where it’s still hot and you know that everything’s going to change soon and be winter, and everyone’s going to go back to doing their own thing. But yeah. So I always always aiming for an August release.

EA: And it also sort of feels like this wonderful release as we do get closer to a post-COVID world. And there’s a freedom to it and an openness to it. But I want to talk about some of the lyrics because they keep in line with the song feeling really timeless to me. I can see it over multiple decades. And specifically the don’t look back, you can never look back. Because that’s right out of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer.” Totally is what took me back to this. And I’m like, ‘this is the queer “Boys of Summer” that should have been the whole time.’

SC: And that was truly something that I was like… Because I’ve always loved that song. And something about that song has always felt to me queer. I don’t know why. It’s not, but something-

EA: Well, it’s the music video too, but yeah. (laughs)

SC: (laughs) But even just somebody writing a whole song that’s about the other men. It was a song that I could sing along with and be like, after the boys of summer are gone, and be like, yeah. And for me, I didn’t want to sample it in any capacity. I’ve always loved that. There’s something about that line in particular. And it’s this very quick little moment. And I was like, oh, what if I just expanded it into something else with that little thing? And it’s funny because when I did it, I initially did it, and I was just like, I want it to be a small reference. I don’t want it to be a true sample, whole melody situation, and all of that. And I was like I just want to touch it. And I had found that only a couple people seems to have noticed that little reference, but every time someone does, I’m like, yeah, that’s it.

EA: Well, it’s my generation so I think I picked up on it pretty quickly. But it’s evocative. And I think a great song, and something that makes a timeless song is something that can be evocative like that.

You talked about being able to sing that song and feel you’re singing as a boy about boys without having to change pronouns, or language or anything. And that’s another great thing about your song is that it’s very specifically a boy to boy about a boy’s song. And it is unabashedly queer. I know we’re in an era now of that being able to be more of a thing, but was that always going to be it, or did you just kind of hit a moment where it’s like this is a damn gay song.

SC: I personally, because for my thing, especially I think this comes out of a lot of theater school, the way I watched as pop music became a part of performance and musical theater, there was so much instruction in my era of BFA era of teachers being like, “Well you can just sing the song, but change the pronouns.” And I’d be like, “Why?” I’d be like, “Are we all that fragile that I can’t sing about a boy or about this or about that.” And I mean, I did a gay musical in 2018. That was one of my favorite things ever. And there’s a song from it that I audition with sometimes.

And I had a casting director be like, “Well, I don’t know if you should always sing that because it might limit you because you’re singing to another man.” And I’d be like, “Why would that limit me? Straight people can play gay people all the time.” I was like, “Why is it even a thing?” And I mean, I don’t think you can have this conversation about being openly queer without talking about Lil Nas X’s new album. Because I’m just overwhelmed with joy every day about his existence because he’s groundbreaking in 10 million different ways. But the idea that we just have a pop star of this visibility and that level, a black gay man singing so explicitly about being gay. I’m like this person is years younger than me, and I’m still like he’s a huge inspiration to me in terms of how I don’t feel afraid to market my music. I feel far less afraid now that he’s doing this. And for him to do that at, he’s 21, 22.

EA: I know, right?

SC: It’s incredible.

EA: It is.

SC: But yeah, when I was writing the song, I was like I want all of my music to be explicitly about my experience as a queer person. Because I didn’t have a lot of those songs to sing along with when I was younger. And if I can write a song where somebody’s like, oh… Or I’ve had straight friends being like, “Oh no, I’ll still sing along with your song.” And I was like, “Yeah. I mean, I sang along with straight songs for most of my life.”

EA: Exactly. Yeah. We always have to write ourselves into the subtext of a song. So now it’s straight people’s turn.

SC: Yeah, exactly.

EA: You mentioned on Twitter that you are mastering your next single. What can you tell me about it?

SC: So currently, the song itself is done. It’s mastered. Chris Gehringer from Sterling Sound did it again. And I still can’t believe that. He did Solar Power and also MONTERO, and did so many things. He’s a genius. And Sterling Sound is so amazing because they offer indie rates for indie artists. So they make it affordable for you to have your music come out sounding fully professional because it is fully professionally done. And I’m so insanely grateful for that. And he’s amazing what he does with it. I got the master back and I was crying at intermission between the shows here because I was like, oh my God, I didn’t know this could ever sound like this.

But yeah, it’s a little more of a chilly fall. It’s funny because when I originally wrote it, I described it a back of the bar, it’s not quite closing, but we’re getting there. And someone’s singing a song at the back of a bar at night. And then I sent it to my producer. And again, this is why I love him. And he’s like, “Yes, I see that. And there’s a version of that that we can do.” And he goes, “But this melody slaps too hard. And I’m hearing stadium concert rock ballad.” And I was like, “Oh, well let’s see where that happens if we try that.” And we tried that, and I was really taken aback at what he was able to do with the song. And I’m so excited for people to hear it.

Yeah, it’s funny. I’m nervous. I’m like, oh my God, I dropped a song that’s kind of a poppy fun thing, and the next one is a little more bear your soul emotion, screaming, belting kind of thing. But I think hopefully with the weather change, everybody’ll be ready for a little bundley sweater.

EA: Exactly. Sweater weather music.

SC: Yeah. But yeah, we’re filming the video for that one, which I’m excited about, in two or weeks or something. And I’m aiming for late October, early November. I’m just trying to dodge all of the major pop girls because-

EA: I know.

SC: We got the Taylor re-release. They’re also releasing-

EA: November 5th. I swear to God. It’s the gay armageddon.

SC: I know. I was like, ABBA, I feel I could be like, listen to ABBA, but then also listen to my single. It’s only one song. It’s fine. But if Adele surprise dropped, I would be like, oh, okay. It’s all over. Because I’d be listening to Adele. It’s fine. I also, as much as I try to put thought into that, it’s also music comes out every Friday. I’ll release my song, and it is what it is. It’s fine.

But I’m very excited about it. Yeah. We’re getting close to 10,000 streams on Spotify for Boys in the Backseat, which is insane to me. It was just a number I never thought. And now it’s funny because it’s technically just an arbitrary number, but I just never thought that would happen. And so now I’m just like, all right, let’s do it. And so when we get there, I think I’ll announce the release. I’m mean it’s probably going to be November 5th. That’s fine. I’m not that secretive. But I’ll probably release the album art and the title.

EA: Perfect.

SC: Yeah, but I just like I should probably do it not more than a month in advance though because that seems a long time for people to wait.

EA: Yeah. We’re in a 24-hour ability to retain information right now.

SC: I was like I can only make so many memes about my song lyrics.

EA: Yes. How does your theatrical work compare to being a recording artist, just the process?

SC: That’s very interesting. Trying to figure out where to even…

EA: As in with theater, you have instant reactions. You’re there in the moment with people. And recording, you’re kind of just solo and doing it, and you wait for something, a reaction after its released.

SC: Oh yeah. Okay. Yes. And being on a stage and performing, especially the show I’m doing right now is a little jazz standard set kind of thing. There’s so much you can do in recording to evoke a certain emotion or sound or something that you just can’t do on stage because you’re not in a little sound booth with your mic right here. And you don’t have full control over the production. You might be singing to tracks. You might be singing with a live band. And there’s something so thrilling about the live aspect in terms of theater. And it usually leads to, I think, a more in your face bigger experience. And what I love about recording is that you can kind of do either one or the other. But I can go and I can do the quietest little under my breath vocal thing, and then make sure that still sounds fine in the whole thing. Where it’s like I would never be able to do that on a stage because it’s just you wouldn’t hear me.

But yeah, it’s also just wild recording something that I wrote myself versus performing other people’s material. Because it’s funny, I always have to adjust everything when I’m performing somebody else’s material. Because even in the show I’m currently doing, I’ll be singing jazz standard, baritone, Frank Sinatra style. And then I have to sing tenor One Line. It’s a lot of navigating to match the show. Whereas when I’m in writing my own stuff, if something doesn’t feel comfortable, I’ll just change it because I have the control over it to do that.

But it’s funny because I notice when I’m singing my own stuff, it just feels like it comes out. I don’t even have to think about how I’m singing it because it’s just a natural part of it. It came from me. So it’s kind of a very liberating experience to be in a recording studio and recording songs to be able to be like, I have complete creative control over what I’m doing. And I have people I work with that will give me feedback and we all work together to make a product. But at the end of the day, it’s my decision complete versus 10 other people’s decisions, that somebody who wrote a show, somebody who’s directing a show, somebody who’s producing the show.

EA: Exactly. Let’s do some little fun questions for a bit that are totally not this whatsoever. What did you do to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of “Call Me Maybe” this week?

SC: Oh my gosh. Literally last night, I read that Instagram post from Carly about her being the waitress and those… Did you read that?

EA: Yes!

SC: That was honestly, I got kind of emotional reading that because I never thought I would release a single. And I’m reading a story that from somebody who I think is a pop icon, just being like, yeah, I was waiting tables, and it was the first time people were like I know. And just for them to not even like it. And I was like, oh, but I understand the mentality of, but someone heard my song. That’s nuts. I got really genuinely moved by that. And to think that three months later she had “Call Me Maybe” out.

EA: That’s it. Yeah.

SC: Yeah. And I think Carly is such an incredible representation of, critically, she’s always been adored, and obviously the gays love her, but most straight people in the world are like, oh, “Call Me Maybe” girl. And I’m just like, or also Emotion, one of the best pop albums ever written. It’s genuinely one of the best albums. And so last night I was just like I’m going to give my girl Carly some streams tonight. I just went through and I was listening to all of her stuff. And I was like, God, Emotion and Dedicated, the B-sides are all so good.

EA: The B-sides. Oh my God.

SC: Like “Higher.” Oh my God. All that’s so good. And for me, I’m like how many melodies does one person have in her brain? It’s nuts. They’re all such great hooks. The production’s immaculate. And each album has such a distinct feel while also always still feeling like pop Carly. It doesn’t feel she’s necessarily being like, this is my new era. She’s like, I made a new album and it feels this album. And you will know you’re listening to Dedicated versus listening to Emotion, but I’m still Carly.

EA: I love that. I know you’re in the middle of a show, but what are you watching, or what are you obsessed with right now on TV?

SC: That’s actually, okay, so the best thing about this contract is I’m doing it with two other guys who are amazing, and I love them. And they had been doing this for eight weeks before I got here. I was a replacement for the last month. And so they’ve been in this total schedule of, we go to the gym in the morning, we watch our shows, we watch our programs, and then we do the show, and then we watch a movie or continue watching the shows. So we’ve been flying through stuff. And right now the two shows that, I’m into Circle, season three. I love The Circle. I think it’s the funniest, most wonderful, stupid, silly game on TV. And I think it’s just such a blast to watch. So we’re very excited for that tomorrow. We also started, it came out last year, but Raised By Wolves.

EA: Oh yeah.

SD: The Ridley Scott sci-fi. I have no idea what I was expecting. It was not what it is. And I am deeply invested. I mean, Ridley Scott is Ridley Scott, so a truly singular sci-fi vision of where multiple times per episode, I’m like, I’ve never seen anything that before at all. And it’s very, very cool. It’s definitely a slow burn, but when it starts to go, it goes.

EA: Oh, I love it. And I do want to let you go so that you can have the rest of your day and have your show. But I want to say RIP to theruraljuror_.

SC: I know. Oh my gosh.

EA: But yay to having a professional Twitter handle.

SC: Can you believe it? Who knew this would happen? It’s so funny. Actually, there was so much debate in my group text of everyone was just like, “Don’t get rid of it, don’t get rid of it.” And then I just had a lot of friends in media that were like, and one of my friends in particular, he was just like, “You have to change it.” He’s like, “Because if I post your song,” and he has almost 100,000 followers, he’s like, “If I retweet your song, nobody sees your name. They just see your @.” And he was just like, “If they at least know your name, it’s like they’re already making a recognition of the two things.”

And then I realized once I started getting some attention from other playlists and radio stations, and stuff like that, they would be like, this week on the radio, and it would be some person’s name, some person’s name, theruraljuror_. And I was like, oh, okay. This probably is useful in the long run to have the name. And Twitter was really nice about it. They changed it in an hour. Because the original @Sean Doherty had been dormant for 12 years. I think it’d been logged in but not used. And so they just essentially switched us. So now he is Sean Doherty_. And I was like, oh my God, savage.

EA: It is. That’s so alt universe. How funny.

SC: Yeah. But I guess Twitter has their own rules about, they’re like if nobody’s posted or anything, and clearly you’re very active on the site, so they’re like, we don’t mind. I was like, that’s nice. And it doesn’t seem like the other person minded either because they haven’t said anything.

EA: Sean, thank you so much for taking some time from your busy performance schedule to talk today.

SC: This has been wonderful.

EA: Everybody, please stream “Boys in the Backseat,” and get ready for the next single.

SC: Oh my gosh. Thank you. Thank you so much.

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Photos: Emma Mead/The Emma Mead Experience