Dan + Shay recently shared a vulnerable video message with fans, revealing that a personal and professional rough patch almost ended their band for good in early 2022. Thanks to a renewed commitment to working together and maintaining their relationship, the duo bounced back, making what they describe as their best new music to date.
In 2024, their newly-sharpened communication skills will come in handy once again: Dan + Shay will be The Voice‘s first-ever coaching duo, sharing a special double chair — but just one button — as they duke it out against three other star coaches to snag contestants.
“Who presses the button?!” Shay Mooney asks rhetorically, during the duo’s recent appearance on NBC’s TODAY.
“It’s built-in comedy. It’s perfect,” Dan Smyers adds.
But the pair aren’t immune to getting into fights if they disagree on which contestants to choose — and this time, their arguments will be televised.
“This is gonna be the demise of Dan + Shay right here,” Mooney jokes. “We got ourselves right, and then The Voice got us,” Smyers chimes in.
In all seriousness, though, Dan + Shay don’t seem concerned by the prospect of splitting a coaching chair. After all, they’ve already overcome a decade of the ups and downs of stardom together — to say nothing of the volatile years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We realized that we needed to spend more time focusing on it,” Smyers explains, speaking about the fateful conversation where they decided to rededicate themselves to their Dan + Shay career, and to each other.
“We were like, ‘We’ve got an amazing fan base. We owe it to them to get ourselves right, personally, get our relationship right,” he continues. “We sat down one night, hashed everything out, and we made a goal. You know, moving forward, we wanna spend a few days at least with each other. If we’re not on the road, get back in the room. Write songs. Just hang out like we did 10 years ago when we met. ‘Cause that’s where the magic was, and if you don’t go out of your way to do that, things can go by the wayside.”
Dan + Shay have since released a handful of new songs that they wrote during the time period right after that fateful reconciliation. They are “Save Me the Trouble,” “Heartbreak on the Map” and “Bigger Houses,” the latter of which is the title track of a new album due out on Sept. 15.