Country music duo Dan + Shay stopped by Today on Thursday morning (April 4) to help Kelly Clarkson announce the nominees for the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. Following their appearance, they caught up with Billboard to chat about how it feels to be nominated for seven BBMA awards, which previous BBMA duo/group winner they would like to collaborate with, and what they’re most excited about with their upcoming tour with Shawn Mendes.
Speaking of their nominations, Dan Smyers tells Billboard that it feels “incredible” to be up for seven awards and that they are “super fired up” to attend the BBMAs for the first time.
“It’s always an incredible show, and just the company in these categories is incredible,” he says. “A lot of people put a lot of hard work into what we do, not only musically but outside of that, everybody on our team just always hustling, always traveling with us, so it’s a culmination of that and it’s a cool moment to celebrate. Win or lose, we’re just excited to be there.”
Since one of the categories they are up for is top duo/group, Dan + Shay are asked which recent winners of that category they would like to one day collaborate with, to which they name One Direction.
“I love One Direction,” notes Shay Mooney. “We were jamming to some old One Direction back in the day, like a week ago,” he adds with a laugh. “We’re huge fans of those guys.”
In the interview, the duo also discuss their upcoming tour with Shawn Mendes, as they will be hitting the road with him in Australia this fall. “His last album was incredible. We wore that thing out,” says Smyers of Mendes.
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“He’s one of the most talented singers, songwriters, guitar players. Just an awesome guy all around and we’ve gotten the chance to get in the studio with him a little bit and make some music together and we’ve just become buddies over the years.”
You can check out the full video interview with Dan + Shay above.
Kelly Clarkson hosts the 2019 Billboard Music Awards from the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 1. The show will air live at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.