Kaylee Bell’s new album is here.
Released today, Cowboy Up features some of the most personal songwriting of the country-pop star’s career to date, including “Heartbeat”, written shortly after Bell learned she was pregnant.
“It captures the shock, the wonder, and the overwhelming realisation that life as I knew it was about to change forever,” Bell shares of that track.
The album also contains previously released tracks “Red Dirt Romeo”, “Ring on It”, and the title track. Bell also makes sure to pay homage to her musical heroes on the record: there’s “Song for Shania”, a tribute to Shania Twain, one of Bell’s biggest musical influences, and there’s also “Torn”, a cover of — you guessed it — Natalie Imbruglia‘s biggest hit.
“It’s one of those songs I just had to sing,” Bell says about “Torn”. “It’s iconic, and I’ve always loved it, especially the melody.”
Cowboy Up was produced by Nashville-based Tom Jordan, who Bell brought out to New Zealand to work on the album.
“Working so closely with Tom on this record was the most creatively involved I’ve ever been in the recording process, and I absolutely loved it. I’ve been a fan of his band Seaforth for years, so getting to collaborate with Tom was really special,” Bell says.
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Looking ahead, Bell will celebrate her new album with a national tour in November, marking her biggest headline run to date (see full dates below).
The Canterbury-born singer-songwriter featured in our Future of Music series last year, and previous album, Nights Like This, appeared in our 80 Best New Zealand Albums of the 2020s So Far list.
Kaylee Bell’s Cowboy Up is out now.
Kaylee Bell New Zealand Tour
Presented by More FM and Eccles Entertainment
Ticket information available here
Tuesday, November 4th
Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
Saturday, November 8th
The Civic, Auckland
Thursday, November 13th
Civic Theatre, Invercargill
Friday, November 14th
Regent Theatre, Dunedin
Saturday, November 15th
Town Hall, Christchurch
