Maddie & Tae Use Real-Life Heartbreak as Inspiration for Behind-the-Scenes Video
A new behind-the-scenes video from Maddie & Tae gave group member Taylor Dye the opportunity to draw from her own personal experiences and channel it into performance art.
In the group's latest single, Maddie & Tae ask several questions in the wake of a relationship ending, with the most potent being the song's title: "Can You Die From a Broken Heart?" While the answer for Maddie & Tae is a resounding no, Dye certainly used it for inspiration when acting out the narrative in the video.
When speaking to People about the making of their latest video, Dye said "Everyone is about to get a front-row seat to my biggest heartbreak."
The song was released just two weeks after Dye’s breakup (from singer Jackie Lee) in 2017. She explains that, while fans readily shared their heartbreak tales after hearing the song, she herself didn't initially reveal her own story. "We released this song, and while we were talking about it, no one knew what I was going through when we wrote it because I hadn’t really expressed that. I hadn’t told anyone that, hey, this was really hard for me. Everyone was being so vulnerable and sharing their stories, and I felt like I should give them the same respect."
Dye has been in a new relationship with songwriter Josh Kerr for over a year now, but was able to channel that heartbreak admirably for the video, even confirming that she cried real tears for the camera. Her musical partner Maddie Marlow became the song's musical narrator, while Dye acted out the story behind it.
Dye enjoyed her foray into acting, telling People, "I actually am very passionate about acting," before going on to say that "I’ve always had a little bit of an itch for it...We wrote the song from such a personal space that I felt like I could really draw from that. And if this was to be my ‘acting debut,’ if you will, then this would be the perfect story to tell."
When explaining how the song came to be Marlow said to People, "We came up with this super-vulnerable phone call between us and our moms,” she recalls, “and we just started talking about our heartbreaks, what those conversations sounded like and started putting that into the song. But I knew what Tae was going through, and so I was kind of trying to protect her from having to go super-deep to where it was going to ruin the day, but also let her heal a little bit through songwriting."
"Die From a Broken Heart" was co-written with Jonathan Singleton and Deric Ruttan.
Maddie & Tae are on tour with dates and tickets available here. They will also be joining Carrie Underwood back on her Cry Pretty 360 Tour on Sept. 12.
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