How Not To

Album: Obsessed (2016)
Charted: 57
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Songfacts®:

  • Adam Hambrick, Paul DiGiovanni and Kevin Bard penned this tune about how tough it can be to move on from a relationship. The second single from Obsessed, it's the first song Dan + Shay released to radio that the pair didn't have a hand in writing.

    "We wrote one hundred and fifty songs on the album, and we've always said 'Let the best song win, because there are many so great songwriters in Nashville,'" Dan Smyers told Billboard magazine. "A buddy of mine sent that song to me 7:30 in the morning, before we were going in to cut at Ocean Way. I thought the song was a smash. I played it for Shay, he agreed, and we cut it that day."
  • Directed by PTracy, the song's music video begins two people meeting at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Sophie (Katie Stevens) is a waitress who can't sneaking sips of alcohol from her water bottle, while Noah (Pierson Fode) is a member of Dan + Shay's band whose bad behavior is getting in the way of his passion. The clip shows Sophie and Noah struggling from addiction, and how their love for one another helps them make it through their first year of recovery.

    Patrick Tracy (PTracy) is a graphic designer and photographer. He has been friends with Dan Symers for many years having grown up with him in Pennsylvania. Tracy also directed the duo's videos for "Show You Off" and "Nothin' Like You" as well as their cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."
  • Dan + Shay were both in happy, long term relationships when they recorded this tune. Shay Mooney explained why they still wanted to record this heartbreak song during an interview with Billboard magazine:

    "A lot of times, the best way to get over a break-up is to listen to a break-up song, I feel like it just puts you in that place and sometimes you need to go to that place and tap into that emotion. I love break-up songs and I'm not in a bad relationship, we're both very happily with our ladies but I think just tapping into that emotion every once in a while as songwriters and as people is a good thing. That's why country music was built on heartbreak a lot of times - there's something cool about country music being able to tell a story of heartbreak and I feel like everybody can relate to that."

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