BUBBA WESTLY
TCMM spoke with TCMA Emerging Artist of the Year Finalist, Bubba Westley, about his recent nomination, new music, and exciting upcoming projects.
What was your experience like shooting your new music video ‘Feels So Good’?
BW: Drew is one of the most prepared individuals I’ve ever worked with. I loved how prepared, organized, and detailed he was about shooting the video and about what he brought to the table from the very beginning. Him and I will definitely be working together again in the future.
How do you feel about being an Emerging Artist Finalist for the TCMA Awards this year?
BW: I’m excited. It’s kind of funny to say ‘emerging’ artist when you’ve been in the industry ten years. My first record came out in 2014. Now in 2024, I am seeing the most growth organically in my career. It’s been a very, very exciting year. I am absolutely honored to be nominated. No doubt. I am looking forward to the award show.
What are you goals going forward with your music?
BW: My goals going forward are always to stay original and never loosing my style of creativity. I’ve always been the type of artists where I do not necessarily let anyone get involved with my creativity. Once I find someone that really supports, acknowledges, and backs me in every aspect of my originality and the way that I create on my own level, I can continue to work with them and really love working with them. I think that’s one thing sets me apart from different artists. I don’t let anyone else influence who I am, what I do, or the music I put out.
What do you want your listeners to feel or experience when they’re listening to your music?
BW: I want my listeners to feel whatever they want to feel when they listen to my music because I think that everyone has their own creativeness inside of them. The way that they enter my music is the way that they should interpret my music. I would never tell somebody “oh no, you interpreted that completely wrong” because that loses the originality of who a person is and what I bring to the table for somebody else. I think that’s the most important thing about what music does for people, is the way they feel and the way they interpret something. I would tell anybody that listens to my music that I hope they feel the way I felt when I wrote that song, when I recorded that song… which is the excitement, the emotion, and the detail about what the lyrics are bringing to the table.
What’s on the horizon for you and your band?
BW: We are going to have a new record for 2025. It’s completely different from anything I’ve ever put out and the reason being is because this is the first record where I wasn’t apart of writing every song on the record. I was a writer on some of the songs on this record, however I will be covering some Texas Country hits that not many other people have covered that've been out for 20+ years. It’s something that I’ve been working on with my producers and I want to figure out a way to put every bit of my influences from Freddy Fender to the rock styles that I love like 3 Doors Down and Creed. Kings of Leon is one of my biggest influences - I love them. And the reason why I even picked up my guitar in the first place, which is Texas Country music. I really wanted to incorporate all those different specs in this record. This is one of those records that I’m not making for me, I’m making more for my listeners to kind of see who I am from my influences.