Music defines Chase Bryant. At every level and in often unexpected ways, hi… Read Full Bio ↴Music defines Chase Bryant. At every level and in often unexpected ways, his truths are expressed in melody, lyrics, hooks and sounds ... but his reality goes even deeper than that. Bryant's heritage is defined by music. His upbringing, his craft, his inspiration and his obsessions are all centered in the same - which is good - because there's no other way to explain how a 23-year-old Texan could already be a top-flight guitar player, head-turning songwriter, RED BOW recording artist and co-producer of his debut album.

Bryant focuses his muse on the commonalities people share. "We all have a destination," he says. "We all have dreams we want to follow. I‚Äôm no different than anybody else, I just sing about it. It's my job to put the party on and give people a good reason to have fun." And that he does, whether it's in the soaring groove of "Summertime Saturday High," the sparkling "Fire,‚Äù unabashed romanticism of "Change Your Name‚Äù or the vocally-charged, guitar-shredding debut single "Take It On Back."

Raised in Orange Grove, TX (pop. 1,200), Bryant's grandfather played piano in Roy Orbison‚Äôs first two bands and, later, for Waylon Jennings. His uncles co-founded the group Ricochet, which had several hits in the '90s. "From the time I was a kid, the only thing I wanted to do was play music," he says.

"I was two or three years old and heard Jerry Lee Lewis‚Äô 'Lewis Boogie' come on my grandfather‚Äôs record player. I remember hearing him say, 'My name is Jerry Lee Lewis and I‚Äôm from Louisiana' ... and I had an identity crisis! I thought I was Jerry Lee and would walk around saying that. In school, I was the odd kid. There were 20 guitars in town and I owned all of them."

Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Tom Petty, Vince Gill, Bob Wills, Steve Wariner, Bryan Adams and more were early influences, but a confluence of releases brought him to a turning point. "Keith Urban's Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing and records by Sarah Buxton and Jedd Hughes did it," he says. "I knew I wanted to play mainstream country ‚Äì I always knew. But those records told me that I could be that and still write guitar riffs that would stick in somebody‚Äôs head."

"I never wanted to be anybody else," he says. "My grandfather always told me ‚Äòyou can't be good at being anybody else. You can only be good at being yourself.‚Äô"

Songwriting was an integral part of his development. "It goes back, of course, to getting my heart broken in school," he says. "Some girl broke up with me ‚Äì¬†I may have been 11 or 12, and I just wrote it down. I was never great at reading, but I liked words, phrases and sentences. The only way I knew to let people know me is through writing. I'd just look at my life, grab some paper and put it down.

"The other thing I'd do is have melodies playing in my head. Something would pop up and I'd just go, 'There it is.' " Encouraged by his parents, particularly his school-teacher mother, he graduated early and moved west. "All I wanted to do was play music and Los Angeles was my first attempt," Bryant says. "Somebody asked me to go out there and write for this little company and I took the first flight. The dream was that simple, but you can't stop before the miracle happens. You have to keep going. And I feel like it was a miracle just making it out of Orange Grove. I loved L.A., but Nashville is where I wanted to come. I probably wrote 400 lousy songs before I wrote my first good one. But one good one was enough to get Nashville managers, pluggers and publishers on board."

Because of his Roy Orbison connection, someone suggested a meeting with Roy's widow, the late Barbara Orbison, a prominent Nashville publisher, who signed Bryant on the spot, making him her final signing before she passed.

That road led Bryant to BBR Music Group imprint Red Bow Records, to which he signed in August 2013. During one early meeting, Founder Benny Brown, notoriously picky about working with producers, surprised Bryant. "He'd listen to my demos and say, 'Where did you cut that?' or 'Who produced that?' And I'd always say, 'In my closet. Cut it myself. Played it myself.' Benny trusted me enough to co-produce with Derek George (Randy Houser, Joe Nichols). He gave me the reins, which was something I always wanted."

Brown's confidence was noteworthy if for no other reason than the fact that Bryant is completely self-taught as a producer. "There were no studios in Orange Grove," Bryant explains. "My parents took me to a Guitar Center and let me get what I needed. From there, I started building little tracks that I would listen to in the car and compare with what I heard on the radio. I taught myself how to make stuff sound bigger and better.‚Äù

Despite being on the cusp of exceptional achievement for someone so young (having recently been named one of ‚ÄúThe Best Things We Saw at CMA Music Fest 2014‚Äù by Rolling Stone) Bryant sees little difference between himself and the audience. "We're all fans," he says. "We're all friends. And the music is our connection. To me, it's a lifelong relationship and we'll all get where we're going together. That's the beauty of music. This is the first chapter of my book, and I think people will find it defines where they're at just as much as it defines where I'm at -- because we're the same ‚Äì I'm just the guy with the guitar. If I wasn't, I'd be the guy on the front row with his arm around his girl raising a glass to the guy onstage. No question. It's just who I am. Music is everything."

Selfish
Chase Bryant Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I want you more than one night
I want you more than the weekend
I wanna stay right here and watch that summer sunset sinking
I want you more than forever
Until the world stops spinning
Well, baby be my happy ever after, never ending

Let me be selfish

All that I want
I wanna steal every single kiss until they're gone
Baby, I'm helpless
Lost without you
Girl, I wanna be the only one you hold onto
Let me be selfish, yeah
Let me be selfish, uh-uh

Yeah, let me turn them lights down
Let me play this song
Well, let me be the one you're laying next to
The one that turns you on
I don't only want you for tonight, no
I just want you for the rest of my life

So let me be selfish
You're all that I want
Girl, I wanna steal every single kiss until they're gone
Baby, I'm helpless
Lost without you
Girl, I wanna be the only one you hold onto
So let me be selfish, yeah
Let me be selfish, uh-uh

I don't only want you for tonight
I just want you for the rest of my life
Let me be selfish
You're all that I want
Girl, I wanna steal every single kiss until they're gone
Baby, I'm helpless
Lost without you
Girl, I wanna be the only one you hold onto
So let me be selfish, yeah
Let me be selfish, uh-uh

Girl, I don't only want you for tonight
I just want you for the rest of my life

Overall Meaning

The song "Selfish" by Chase Bryant is a love song where he sings about his overwhelming desire for someone he loves to be with forever. The song talks about how he wants to be selfish with her because he can't bear to lose her. He says that he wants her more than just a one-night stand or a weekend. He wants to watch the sunset with her and spend the remaining time of his life with her. He desires to be someone who can make her happy every day, and he wants her to be his happy ever after.

The chorus of the song says that he wants to be selfish and have her all for himself. He wants to steal all the kisses until they are gone and be lost without her. He wants to be the only one she holds on to, and he pleads with her to let him be selfish. The second verse of the song talks about how he wants to be close to her, to turn the lights down low and play their song, be the one she turns to, the one she lies next to, the one who turns her on. He assures her that he's not in this for just one night and that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life.

Overall, the song "Selfish" by Chase Bryant is about wanting to be with someone so badly and not wanting to lose them. It's about being selfish with love because that person is all that they want in this world.

Line by Line Meaning

I want you more than one night
I desire you for more than a single night

I want you more than the weekend
I desire you for more than just the weekend

I wanna stay right here and watch that summer sunset sinking
I want to sit with you and watch the sunset together in this place

I want you more than forever
I desire you for a timeless eternity

Until the world stops spinning
My desire for you will never end

Well, baby be my happy ever after, never ending
I want you to be my happy ending in a never-ending fashion

Let me be selfish
Allow me to prioritize my own desires

All that I want
You are all that I desire

I wanna steal every single kiss until they're gone
I want to passionately kiss you until I cannot anymore

Baby, I'm helpless
I am powerless without you

Lost without you
I am directionless and without purpose without you