Cale Dodds’ ‘What We Gonna Do About It’ Video Is So Much Fun for All Ages [Exclusive Premiere]
Cale Dodds rocks the socks off of the elderly in a new video for his infectious song "What We Gonna Do About It," premiering exclusively on Taste of Country.
The scene is a retirement home, but Dodds wants to be anywhere but. He and his bandmates are working hard, bathing elderly and unclogging toilets, but his mind is on performing at an upcoming open mic night ... which also happens to be at the retirement home.
They make the most of it, and by the end of the song, the old folks are enjoying it just as much.
Directed by Dustin Haney, "What We Gonna Do About It" showcases Dodds' fun — and self-deprecating — sides. The singer tells Taste of Country he dreamt up the idea for the music video, and when he took it to Haney and his team, they too loved the concept. The video was filmed in 12 hours at a local recreation center off of Music Row in Nashville.
"I've never directed or created a ton of music videos, but with this one I looked at it as, 'Let's have fun with this. The song feels good, let's have a fun video,'" Dodds says. "I just remember, as a '90s kid growing up, all the videos that I loved made me laugh, made me want to watch 'em again. I like to think that this song and this video are coming at a time when our country needs a good laugh and a feel-good song."
Dodds wrote the upbeat pop-country "What We Gonna Do About It" with Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard and Corey Crowder in June. It's his first new music since January, and he hopes the anthemic, arena-country sound will allow fans an escape from their daily lives, even if it's just for three minutes.
"The three of us were going over my live show and what my live show was missing. We came together and said we should write something that really sets the vibe of what everybody in the audience is feeling when we play a live show, and what I want people to take away from playing live," Dodds says, recalling penning the tune with Crowder and Hubbard. "It's just a fun song, honestly. People come to a country concert for an hour-and-a-half to forget and I'm trying to give them something to remember."
Dodds wants "What We Gonna Do About It" to give fans a sense of inclusion and says the track's bridge sums up the song: "Let them stay in / We're going out / We're never as young as we are right now," he sings. He also gives a nod to his older brother, who is his drummer, on the track.
"There's a line that says, 'Damn, that drummer's on a real good beat' and in the background you hear a voice saying, 'Big bro.' My brother's my drummer, and so I was able to throw that in the track, which was a lot of fun," he explains.
Dodds will be releasing several new tracks over the next two months. He says the new music is more like the soundtrack to a weekend, versus the soundtrack to a relationship.
"I love the feel of a inclusive party and connection onstage," he says. "The lyrics of my songs are all my stories. They're where I've been, where I am and where I'm going. I wrote them more from a perspective of 'we' versus 'me.'"
"Each body of work in music represents a new chapter to me and even though last year I only put out six songs, those six songs were a big chapter for me and my whole team," he concludes. "So it's exciting to kind of go, 'All right, chapter two.'"
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