Interview: Chasing Ghosts With Jake & Shelby

Interview by Lindsey V. Britt

Nashville-based pop duo Jake & Shelby have recently released their newest song “Chasing Ghosts” just in time for ghost season, while writing songs for in presentation for their debut album. The duo will be performing at Rockwood Music Hall on October 22nd in New York City.

Recently you’ve released a song called “Chasing Ghosts”, what is the story behind the song?

We wrote this song one night while we were on a little retreat in the woods, so I think that kind of created the vibe of the song for us. We wrote it with our friends Rose Falcon, Brian Bunn, and Kylie Sackley. What inspired this song for us was the feeling of continuing to chase after experiences of familiar pain, because you don’t know what life is like without it. I really struggle with letting go of things, and for me that sort of includes letting go of trauma. Even after being on the other side of something that was so crippling / a difficult season, choosing to move forward and grow from it is hard. So often we keep ourselves from something good because we go back to what we’re used to… almost like we’re chasing ghosts. Even through the depth of this song, we still had so much fun writing it together. We stayed up recording the demo of the song til like 3am, and we had the best time doing it.

You two have been teasing a bunch of unreleased songs lately, is there an album in the works?

Of course! We have been writing sooo much so now we have a lot of song options for our first album! We are honestly so deeply excited to get an album recorded and released. We feel that this first one is gonna be so special because we’ve had so much time to choose the best songs for it that have been written over our whole time being a duo.

You’re playing at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City on October 22nd, how excited are you for the show?

We are SO EXCITED! Every opportunity we have to share our music live with our fans is our favorite! Because we’ve grown largely through our social media, we know that we have so many fans that we haven’t met. And we want to meet them all face to face and have the chance to play for them live. There is something so special about sharing music in a live setting that can only happen through that experience. We think it’s a crucial part in how music impacts our lives. So yes we can’t wait to play for everyone at Rockwood! Also Rockwood is such an iconic venue, so it’ll be really fun to learn about all the artists who have played there before us.

What is it like living in Nashville with it being such a famous music city?

Honestly we’ve been here all our lives so we don’t know any different! But we are so grateful that we did grow up in a place where music is so rich. Where we can connect with so many different talented musicians and learn from so many.

Who’s your favorite artist/band that has also come out of Nashville?

Jake: I love Stephen Day is one of my favorite artists out of Nashville.

Shelby: Taylor Swift

Who are some of your favorite songwriters?

Jake: I love Alexander 23, Ryan Anderson (bendigo fletcher), Madison Cunningham, John Mayer, and Shelby Hiam.

Shelby: Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams, Lizzy McAlpine

What is something about the two of you that most people might not know?

We actually grew up just 5 minutes down the road from each other and went to the same public school, but never remember meeting each other until we started going to Cedarstone (where we took music lessons)! It’s kinda crazy, we often wonder if we ever crossed paths at school or throughout our lives at some point when we were kids. We know we sang in the school choirs together at the choir concerts. I (Jake) can some what remember hearing Shelby sing a lead once and thinking it was super good, and wondering who that girl was who sang it haha!

Being a part of Gen Z which is known as the iTunes/Streaming generation, how important do you think it is to release physical copies such as CDs or vinyl?

We think it is still really important! There is something so special about the experience of opening up a vinyl or a CD and getting to hold the music you are listening to and look into the art and read into the people involved and the lyrics. It’s so different when you can physically touch and hold it. And we think that is something that should always stay around.

What are some goals you have for 2025? This can be music-related or personal.

Jake: To tour our upcoming album and release vinyl! It’s gonna be so fun to do both those things and get to sell our music to people in person. We’ve never experienced actually handing our artwork to people in a physical form. Just like we were saying how important it is for people to have physical music media; It is also equally important from the artist standpoint because it feels so much more like a piece of art. There is just something special and meaningful about it.

Shelby: To be more confident in who I am as a person, to practice self-care better, and to write songs in a way that can make people feel deeply seen. (also agree on what Jake said!!)

Halloween is coming up, do you have any plans, like dressing up, going to a haunted house, etc.?

We’ve already been to a haunted house with some friends! We definitely want to dress up as ghosts and go around a local neighborhood playing “Chasing Ghosts” on a speaker.

I heard you got to know each other through an a cappella group, but I’m wondering is a cappella as cutthroat as movies such as Pitch Perfect make it sound like?

It was honestly the opposite of that. Our a cappella group was so chill and laid back. We had so many times where we couldn’t sing because we were all laughing too hard and being too silly to get out any words! It was a really fun and kind group. We learned a bunch of old doo-wop songs to some newer pop tunes. It really was a super fun group.

Lastly, do you each have a recommendation? This can be anything from a movie to a place to visit, anything you want.

Jake: Every once in a while go look at the stars at night. It’s important to remember how tiny we are. And it’s easy to forget at times. We get so caught up in our daily activities and everything going on in our minds. It’s nice to just sit down and stare into the sky and remember where we are.

Shelby: Do the best you can to live in the present. Don’t spend your life waiting on the next big thing, or worrying about what happened yesterday, but embrace the in between. Instead of relying on someone else to be happy, try to find something deeper you can depend on that will never change.

You can now listen to “Chasing Ghosts” on your favorite music streaming platform. And if you’re in the New York City area, be sure to check out their show on October 22nd.

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