Hunter Hayes Shares How He Overcame Vocal Problems for Upcoming Album
Hunter Hayes is finally in control of his voice after experiencing problems over the course of the last several years.
The country singer and multi-instrumentalist took control last September by hiring a vocal coach to help with issues caused by shedding adolescence, chronic allergies and acid reflux. It may not sound as severe as artists like Adele or Meghan Trainor, who both required vocal surgery within the last six years, but it was still an obstacle for the Grammy-nominated Hayes.
"I went through a massive voice change that I didn't know I was going through in the past three years," Hayes tells Rolling Stone Country. "I was so tired of being frustrated by working so hard with warm-ups and dietary things and still getting on stage and feeling like it wasn't what I wanted it to be. For me, if I get frustrated with a guitar solo, I can take the guitar off and go home and come back the next day. Or change the strings. I can fix that. When my voice isn't doing what I want it to do, it's crushing in the most heavy way possible. It flipped me upside down more times than I care to talk about, which is why it was that much more important for me to go ahead of it and say I refuse to go down without a fight. It's been a huge weight lifted."
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At just 25 years old, Hayes has a lot of career ahead of him, and even released three singles in 2016 -- "Amen," "Young Blood" and "Yesterday's Song" -- just a few months after 2015's triple disc The 21 Project, which contained new, acoustic and live tracks. He also performed another new song, "All for You," on Good Morning America in January 2017.
Hayes is working on a new album, and says he's now feeling more confident about his future musical endeavors.
"Working with a coach since last September [has helped me find] where my new voice sits, and how to use that and get rid of old habits," he states. "Not surprisingly, I've learned 75 percent of it is all mental for me."
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