Songfacts®:

• Dan + Shay's "Bigger Houses" is a heartfelt ode to the American dream, exposing the never-ending pursuit of materialistic bliss. Amid the chase for bigger and better, they drop a truth bomb.
  
  You're never gonna fill an empty cup
  If what you got's still not enough
  
  Real joy, they reveal, thrives beyond mansion walls. It's the swing on the porch, wrapped in love as the sun sets. Their soulmate's presence becomes their entire world, making anywhere else irrelevant.
  
  In a world obsessed with acquisitions, "Bigger Houses" reminds us of life's genuine treasures: the cherished bonds we nurture and the simple moments we hold dear.
• "Bigger Houses" is the title track of Dan + Shay's fifth album. "We named the album Bigger Houses because this song represents exactly where we are in our lives right now," the duo explained. "Happiness is all about being surrounded by people you love, and we're learning that more and more everyday. We're grateful for each other, grateful for our families, and grateful for all of you who are the reason we get to wake up and make music for a living."
• Dan + Shay's Dan Smyers wrote the song with Jordan Reynolds, Jordan Minton and Andy Albert. Smyers, Albert and Reynolds wrote the Good Things tracks "Lying," "One Direction," and "Steal My Love." Smyers, Reynolds and Minton co-wrote the lead single from Bigger Houses, "Save Me The Trouble."
• Dan Smyers produced the song with the duo's longtime collaborator, Scott Hendricks.
• Bryan Sutton played all the instruments (dobro, mandolin, bass, acoustic guitar). He's one of the most respected and accomplished acoustic guitarists in the world, a Grammy Award winner (2006 Best Country Instrumental Performance for Doc Watson's take on "Whiskey Before Breakfast") and a multi-winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association Guitar Player of the Year. As a session musician, Sutton's discography includes credits on albums by Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, and many others.
• "Bigger Houses" was born from a conversation Abby Smyers, the wife of Dan Smyers, had with Andy Albert, Dan + Shay's longtime writing collaborator, and Emily, Andy's wife.
  
  "Andy and Emily had just bought a dream home - big yard, beautiful home - and Abby had visited," Smyers recalled to Billboard. "Eventually, they mentioned how people are always looking forward to what is ahead, and sometimes we stop appreciating what we have. We have a roof over our heads, we're doing something we love, and we can afford groceries - those are things we shouldn't take for granted. Andy and I couldn't afford a meal when we moved to Nashville. We couldn't afford heat or AC in the house we lived in, and we've all come a really long way."
  
  Albert jotted down the phrase "Bigger Houses" on his phone and brought it into a writing session.
  
  "He told me, Abby said, 'The thing about happiness is I've found that it don't live in bigger houses.' I was like, 'Well, that's a hook right there.' It's a song that is close to our hearts and something we think about every day," Smyers said.
• Jordan Reynolds was surprised by the spare arrangement Dan Shay gave "Bigger Houses."
  
  "I fully thought that Dan was going to produce it out bigger," Reynolds told Billboard, "but it stayed pretty stripped. We kept referencing, you know, Adele is one of the only people who can get away with super-stripped moments, but when it happens, it's massive. And we always talk about how Shay has the capabilities of tearing the house down with just him and a piano."
• Dan + Shay credit "Bigger Houses" for laying the groundwork for their stripped-down 2026 album, Young, whose introductory track, "Young," begins with a spare acoustic arpeggio.
  
  "['BIgger Houses'] kind of seemed like the true north for what the Young album became. That was probably the most stripped song we've ever put out," Dan explained on the Off The Record podcast in 2026. "It was just an acoustic guitar, mandolin Dobro, and our two vocals… It wasn't a crazy acrobatic vocal performance or anything wild that Shay was doing on vocals or production wise. It was just a great song that meant something to us and it meant something to a lot of people."