Dan + Shay ‘Freaked’ When They Won Their Third Best Country Duo/Group Performance Grammy
Dan + Shay should have plenty of practice at giving Grammy Awards acceptance speeches by now -- after all, Sunday's (March 14) 2021 Grammy Awards marked the third consecutive year they've brought home the Best Country Duo/Group Performance honor.
But when bandmates Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney heard their names called as the category's winners once again during the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony -- this time for their Justin Bieber collaboration "10,000 Hours" -- they admit they were so shocked that they might have forgotten to thank some people.
"They [said] our song and our name, and we freaked," Smyers admitted in the Grammy Awards virtual press room. "We had no clue what to say, and we were rambling. You can probably see it in our acceptance speech -- apologies to anyone we forgot! But yeah, [the award] means a lot."
The pair get nervous at every awards show, Smyers admits, but the 2021 Grammy Awards were particularly nerve-wracking. "I feel like we were even more nervous this year -- in the comfort of your own home, sitting in front of your computer screen," he adds with a laugh.
"This year is extra special [for winning this award]. When it's a normal year, you're on the road and you're doing 100-plus shows a year, so you're feeling a lot of one-on-one with your fans every single night," Smyers continues. "[During the pandemic shutdowns], you aren't able to feel the connection. You might have a hit song, you might have a song that climbs the charts on the radio, but you're not feeling your fans singing it back to you every night.
"So to win this year of all years, to have tangible evidence of the success and the connection of the song, it makes us feel really good," he concludes.
Not only has the pandemic meant they can't experience performing their songs in front of fans live, it's also meant that Dan + Shay have been unable to celebrate with their collaborator Bieber as often as they would have liked. "We never truly got to celebrate the song going No. 1 with [Bieber] until the CMA [Awards] last year, when we got together," Mooney points out.
"He's such a talented guy. Having him be on this song, from the birth of the song here in Nashville, and getting him on the song and him finishing it and kind of making it what it is now -- that was crazy that that happened to begin with," he continues. "It'll be an amazing day whenever we get to be there with in person and celebrate with him. It's gonna be a really special thing."
In the meantime, however, Mooney is glad to be able to celebrate with his bandmate at his side.
"I'm here with my best friend," he continued, gesturing at Smyers. "I'm very glad I get to celebrate with this guy."