Writing songs about emotional stuff is like writing in a journal for Sunny Sweeney. That journal is called Trophy—Sunny’s fourth studio album, released on March 10.
Ranging from lighthearted to heart-wrenching songs, the Texas native co-wrote eight of the 10 tracks that run you through a gamut of emotions. While some may find writing solo the way to go, Sunny finds comfort in co-writing with such songwriters as Lori McKenna, Caitlyn Smith, Heather Morgan, Jay Clementi and Monty Holmes.
“I actually enjoy co-writing more than I like writing by myself,” Sunny tells Nash Country Daily. “You get to where you have certain people that you work with over and over and over and you know what to expect. I feel comfortable with the people that I write with. That’s why most of my records have a lot of the same co-writers on there because that’s who I write with.”
Nash Country Daily sat down with Sunny to discuss a few of the co-written songs from Trophy. When asked the first thing that comes to her mind when hearing these five song titles, this is what Sunny had to say.
1. “Pass the Pain”
“The idea came when I was going through a divorce and I was at Losers, the bar over on Division or whatever road that is at three in the afternoon. Then the next day I went to write a song and was like, “I got kicked out of a bar last night. I think we should probably talk about that. I didn’t really get kicked out, but the bar tender suggested that I get a cab.”
2. “Nothing Wrong With Texas”
“I happen to be from Texas, so that’s what it’s called. It’s really just about going home and your roots. It’s okay to go home. A lot of people get weird about moving away, especially if you’re any kind of artistic anything and you move away from your hometown and then people judge you if you come back. “Oh, you couldn’t hack it, could you.” I’m like, “Yeah, I totally could hack it. I’m still hacking it. I’m just doing it from home.”
3. “Why People Change”
“My friend Heather [Morgan] and I wrote that about some people that we know. They just let the small things in their life destroy their marriage and they didn’t work hard enough at it.”
4. “Grow Old With Me”
“That’s the first love song that I’ve ever legitimately written—a real love song. I have one about cars also, but it’s about my husband. ‘Grow Old With Me’ is definitely the first love song that I’ve ever had.”
5. “Unsaid”
“I wrote that with Caitlyn Smith. Whenever I co-write, you start talking about ideas and stuff. Then to be able to pull lines that you need, I need or she needs or whatever, I always put myself in the position of the character in the song. For me as we were writing it, it reminded me of a friend of mine that committed suicide. I was just so pissed. He left his wife and his two kids, one being a four-month-old. I was just pissed. I was like, ‘I can’t believe you would do that.’ I didn’t go to his funeral, I was so pissed. I just feel like you have to be able to say things to people. There was so much I wanted to say to him afterwards and I couldn’t.”
