The musical group Echosmith chatted about their new single “Hang Around,” and being a group in the digital age.

Their stardom skyrocketed as they came of age together as both a family and a band with a mission to spread love, positivity, and self-acceptance. They cemented themselves as an inescapable presence in music and pop culture with their triple-platinum hit “Cool Kids” and their double-platinum single “Bright,” as their full-length debut, Talking Dreams, went gold.

Simultaneously, Sydney stood out as a positive cultural force, whether acting as a brand ambassador for Coach, designing a line for Hollister, or duetting on stage with Taylor Swift. They scored another hit with their bold, synth-driven single “Over My Head,” joined King & Country on the powerful hit “God Only Knows” (Timbaland Remix), and released their acclaimed sophomore album Lonely Generation in 2020.  

On their new single “Hang Around,” Sydney said, “It started with a track Noah sent to me as I was driving to LA to spend the week writing songs together. I walked into his home studio with a melody idea and it just got us talking about our relationships and how special it feels to do life with someone so perfectly fit for you.”

“That one little melody idea led us to writing the whole song in just a few hours. It’s been really fun to create the whole feeling of a song musically literally as we write it. We’ve written almost every new song this way and it creates a space for us to really just let the music come naturally, without overthinking it,” she elaborated.

Regarding their music and songwriting inspirations, Noah said, “Our relationship as a band is a pretty integral part of our inspiration. We want our music to be something we personally really connect to and because we are all so close, we are able to have the intimate conversations that lead to the songs we write. Every song starts with a conversation and eventually turns into a finished product that we are all really passionate about.”

On being a band in the digital age, Noah said, “Growing up in the start of the digital age, we had lots of familiarity with it, but now having it be such an important part of our work and having our songs be heard, we keep finding how much we have to learn! Even now, with ‘Cool Kids’ blowing up on TikTok, we’re seeing how the digital world has become an amazing vehicle for communicating our story all over the world, usually in unexpected ways!”  

For young and aspiring artists, Sydney said, “I think it’s so important to find your voice and find a team that will support that voice. Writing songs, journaling, self-reflecting and having meaningful conversations with the people around me are all huge parts of my songwriting process. So many people are making and releasing music so it’s super important to find your “why” and surround yourself with people who will help you execute that.”

She continued, “Also, forcing myself to have more of a real working schedule has been a game changer for me, especially in the past few years, since it’s easy to get distracted with such a creative job. But it’s been really comforting at the end of the day to know that we’ve all put our hearts and souls into this new era and that’s what matters most.” 

On their dream collaboration choices, Sydney responded, “We’ve gotten to do so many fun and unique collaborations over the years. I think it would be super fun to do a collab in the country world next since we haven’t done that yet. Kacey Musgraves is one of my favorite artists and songwriters so even just writing together would be so fun.”

Regarding their definition of success, Noah said, “Success used to mean, “say yes to everything, and wait to crash.” I’m thankful we’ve learned to treat our career in more of a holistic manner, figuring out how we can create music we are passionate about, care for souls while doing it, and live joy-filled lives! That is what success means to us and is absolutely our goal in our career.”

“Hang Around” is available on digital service providers. “It feels like the perfect start to this new era. I hope people can see themselves and their relationships in this song and it can serve as a reminder to be grateful for the amazing people in our lives. We’ve taken so much more ownership over what we do, and we’ve never felt this excited about the music and the whole new chapter that comes with it. We can’t wait to keep sharing who we are through our music and we can’t wait to be on the road again this fall,” Sydney concluded.