Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Chris Mann

Chris Mann has experienced a lot of success throughout his career. His debut album reached number one on Billboard’s Heatseekers charts. He’s performed in front of sold-out crowds around the world and was even hand-selected by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber to play the title character in The Phantom of the Opera.

When the singer-songwriter began penning his latest single, “Good Days,” he took a moment to celebrate all that he’s accomplished. But the best is yet to come for Chris, who’s quickly seen how listeners respond when he’s authentic to his craft and sound.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of catching up with Chris to chat about “Good Days,” his viral videos, and the exciting projects he has in the works.

PC: Tell us about “Good Days” and the inspiration behind the song.
Chris: I’m excited about the song and the video. I wrote “Good Days” before the pandemic and before the Black Lives Matter movement started. I was getting older and I was reflecting back on my career, life, and thinking I’ve had some really big peaks and glory days, so to speak. But also then that doubt that comes into mind when you’re like, “Wow, is that it? Is there more to this? Is there more to life? Is there more I should be pursuing or looking for?”

Then I had the thought that I have had glory days, but I still have good days left and wanted to have a positive outlook on life. I finished the song after the Black Lives Matter movement started. It took on a whole other meaning for me because I’m looking at America and saying that we have to have good days left or else what’s the point of getting out of bed? It took on a different meaning for me in terms of the bigger picture that we can celebrate our glory days, but there are better ones to come.

PC: What was it like filming the music video?
Chris: I shot the video a few months ago during quarantine, and I loved it. It’s this montage of vignettes where I’m weaving in and out of these vignettes of what I would consider to be glory days. Whether they’re my glory days or other people living their glory days, it’s a dope song. I love the track. There’s a vibrancy to it.

The video reflects those glory days, whether they’re dancing, on the beach, or on a date. At the end, it climaxes at the Black Lives Matter march where I believe that these can be our glory days and that our good days are still to come. It’s celebrating that movement and the people who are raising their voice, which is the theme of this record, which we’ve talked about before. It’s to make noise. In this particular example, it’s to get out there and raise your voice for a better day.

PC: You’ve said in the past that this album marks new territory for you. When you look back at the process of putting it together, what’s been the biggest takeaway?
Chris: I’ve worked on this record for a couple of years. It’s been a slow release. I ended up adding two songs on the release for the final project. It came about from me finding my love for music again. I was confused about how I felt about music and wasn’t having as much fun. I started with “Gentleman” by sitting with Willie Beaman, my cowriter and producer, and was like, “I want this track to embody what I love about music and why I loved music in the first place, pop music specifically. So horns and the beat, the influence of John Legend and Justin Timberlake, falsetto harmonies, and finding what grown-man pop sounds like for me and feeling authentic.”

Then that flowed into “Noise!” and flowed into “Honestly” and eventually into “Good Days.” What I learned is to be authentic. I need to love what I’m doing. Before, I was trying to give people what I thought they wanted from me. My parody videos show that when I do something for myself and I don’t think too hard, it resonates.

PC: You’ve brought a lot of joy to fans with your hilarious parody videos. How did that initially come to fruition? What’s the process like deciding what you’ll cover?
Chris: It was a complete accident. [laughs] It’s so ironic having been making music for so long and then to throw something up online for the first time. I’ve never tried to be funny and all of my concerts were canceled by the pandemic. I was frustrated and a bit scared. I very, very quickly made that “My Corona” video and it got twenty million views in four days. It was mind-blowing. I had never experienced anything like it. I was a little embarrassed. I was like, “I’m singing into toilet paper rolls, and now people are paying attention.” That’s pretty much why I started making another one because I was trying to cover that first one up. [laughs] I’ve made like twenty at this point.

When I realized that it was resonating, I was like, “I’m having so much fun being creative. I feel more creative than I’ve ever felt. I love writing these lyrics. I’m speaking from the heart. I’m not overanalyzing this.” It was very liberating. It was very freeing. I really loved doing them.

As far as song choices, I was trying to think of songs that I could flip. Sometimes I’d have more ideas going at once and one won’t stick out as being the better choice for me. But I did Adele’s “Hello” because I had done three upbeat songs in a row. I was like, “Oh wow, these are very popular, but I feel like I’m not singing what I’m supposed to be doing.” So I wanted to find a ballad. That song popped into my head. I was like, “This is so funny because it’s so dramatic.” It’s really fun to think about all of them now. They’re so much work to shoot because I record them in GarageBand, and now Logic—I’ve upgraded my system. Then I shoot everyone on my phone and edit them all myself on the computer.

PC: As we look ahead to 2021, what does the year hold for you?
Chris: I’m developing a couple of television songs that have all wrung out of the attention that I’ve gotten this year. I’m deep into development on scripted and non-scripted shows that I’m creating that are music based. I’m super-duper excited. I would love to think that 2021 will be the start of my larger television presence.

To keep up with Chris, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify. Subscribe to his YouTube channel.