Exclusive Interview: Zach Seabaugh Talks “Girl in a Coffee Shop,” More Music in 2023, and Life on the Road

Singer-songwriter Zach Seabaugh is one of the breakout artists of 2022. This year, he dropped five hit singles that have amassed over four million streams on Spotify alone and hit the road with Drew Holcomb on the Let’s Go Somewhere Tour. As his music has reached new audiences, it’s given him more clarity into who he’s writing for and driven a new evolution in his artistry. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to catch up with Zach to chat about his latest release “Girl in a Coffee Shop,” what’s ahead, and more!

PC: When we last spoke, you said that “Slingshot” represented a new chapter in your career. You’ve since dropped four additional singles that have built on that success. What’s been the biggest impact on this body of work?
Zach: It’s been all the people that have been listening to it that weren’t there before the release of this music. It helps me creatively when I go into the writing room because I’m now starting to get a glimpse of who it is that’s listening to this music and how it’s impacting them. It’s really special. The creative process is fun. Writing songs is fun. But if there’s no one there to listen, I’m not sure what use that is. That’s what I’ve noticed the most. It’s been a lot of fun seeing how people are connecting with the song.

PC: What is the process like deciding what gets released and when?
Zach: It’s different every time. For every song that I write, I bring different collaborators in, whether it’s a producer or different writers. A lot of times, I try to have some concept or an idea or something that’s going on in my life that I want to talk about. The song will stem from there. It may not be exactly what it is that I bring into the room, but we try to go down as many dead-end roads as we can until we land on something that we think people can connect with and also something that we think is honest and worth putting out.

PC: I love the music video that you released for “Christmas Lights,” which features clips from various live performances that you’ve done of the song. You can tell from the footage how much you love the live stage. How much do you use your live performances to test out the new material?
Zach: The live performance is huge when it comes to figuring out what music I want to release. I was just on the road with Drew Holcomb. That was my first time playing full band shows in almost three years. Before that, I was singing a completely different style of music. When I got off that tour, I started writing again. Seeing how people in the crowd react to certain songs has definitely changed the tempo and energy of the music that I want to start working on next year. I want people who come to a show to have fun and feel that energy in the room but also get the depth in the words that I’m saying. It’s a balance.

PC: What is that feeling like to see your words sung back at you and the joy you’re bringing audiences as they listen to your music and watch your live performance? Has your appreciation for the live stage changed given the past few years when you weren’t able to?
Zach: It’s so much harder to get people out to a live show with the amount of music that people are able to consume these days, and to know that a song is resonating with somebody makes it so much easier to come back to Nashville to chase what we’re doing. I had someone who told me they drove three hours for a show.

PC: What are some of your pre-show rituals?
Zach: It’s not as exciting as you think. [laughs] I had a drummer and guitar player with me on this tour. We’re very cool, calm, and collected. There’s a lot of travel that goes on. We have to do these things ourselves. I try to be as calm as possible, especially with the performance. I want to give everything I have when I’m playing these shows. I need to contain the excitement as much as I can. We just sit back and relax. If there’s a nice restaurant around, we’ll go to that, but we’re just hanging out for the most part. Luckily for the fall season, football is on every weekend. That’s usually what we have going on backstage.

PC: You just dropped your final single for 2022. Tell us about “Girl in a Coffee Shop” and the story behind it.
Zach: The idea for “Girl in a Coffee Shop” came from these missed connections that I think people experience each and every day depending on where they are. I was in a coffee shop one day, and I looked across the room. That sparked the idea for me to create this world where I had the chance to go up and meet somebody that I knew nothing about. It’s also a little bit of a hopeless romantic thing and how we sometimes romanticize those scenarios. I hope that anybody that ever felt that way can hear the song and feel heard.

PC: Your songwriting is so inventive that it feels familiar yet so refreshing and unique. You’re able to paint these vivid pictures and invoke these emotions. Do you have a favorite lyric that you’ve ever written?Zach: I have a favorite lyric from a song that I’ve written that hasn’t come out yet. It’s “If sunsets lasted for hours, would we still pull over on the side of the road?” It’s probably my favorite lyric that I’ve ever written. It’s from a song called “Plastic Flowers.” It’ll probably be a deep cut on a project one day. That’s a thought that I can leave people pondering with.

PC: Has that songwriting process evolved over time?
Zach: It’s changed drastically. I’m writing songs with people that are now some of my best friends. When I first started writing songs and collaborating with people, it was really anybody who would give me the time of day and take a chance on me. At that point, you’re chasing songs and you hope that you get something good. But once you do that enough, you start to build a foundation and some concept around what you’re doing.

I’ve been able to have a crew and a camp of writers that I really enjoy. Everybody has different strengths when it comes to writing, whether it’s melodies or lyrics. It’s fun when I get excited about an idea or when something sparks my imagination and I can call those people up. It’s become a little more fluid than it was in the past. I’m able to write a lot more. It helps me get ideas out quicker and more effectively.

PC: You’ve had an insane 2022. When you look back, is there a moment that stands out?
Zach: It’s probably “Christmas Lights” for me. I didn’t think when we were writing that song that it would reach as many people as it has, especially when I released “Slingshot.” That was such an exciting time for me. I had no earthly idea what was going to happen throughout the rest of the year. I had no idea that I was going to be on the road again. We went to a writers’ camp down at the beach with a bunch of my friends and stumbled upon Christmas lights.

That night we wrote that song on the beach and recorded it. We had it up for presave that week. It was something that we couldn’t run away from. It was such a special thing. I think the message is very relatable. I want to take that energy into 2023 and chase those songs as much as I can.

PC: Speaking of 2023, what can fans expect from you?
Zach: More music than I released this year! I’ve released more music this year than I ever have before. I want to keep pouring my heart into these songs and giving them to the fans, and I hope they resonate with them. But I’m sitting on a lot of music right now that I’m really excited about.

I was talking with my management team about what next year is going to look like. There are songs that I wrote a year and a half ago that no one’s even heard before that I’m still over the moon about. So they can expect a lot of music, and hopefully, I’ll be in a city that they’re in.

This has been a building year for us. I know next year will be as well. But I couldn’t tell you what three months from now what life could be like. I’m going to keep putting my heart into these songs and keep putting them out as long as they’ll listen.

To keep up with Zach, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music. Pick up or stream “Girl in a Coffee Shop” today.