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Budding Solo Artist Jordan Harvey ‘Wants to Bring a Smile to People’s Faces’ With His Debut EP “It Is What It Is” (Exclusive)

Jordan Harvey is ready to dominate 2023 as a solo artist.

Since parting ways with country group King Calaway in 2020, the 30-year-old has been hard at work creating original music, resulting in hit singles like “Alabama Girl” and “I Will.”

Today (January 20), Harvey released his first-ever EP It Is What It Is, which he says “is absolutely unapologetically himself.” After taking one listen from start to finish, we can confirm that you’ll get a feel for EXACTLY who he is.

Photo Credit BBR Music Group

Growing up on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, Jordan Harvey developed a love for country music at a very young age, with the help of a very special person in his life.

“My father raised me on Johnny Cash and I would spend weekends at my grandpa’s garage,” Jordan told Celeb Secrets reporter Melanie Rooten in an exclusive interview. “There is where my dad taught me how to fix cars and also would spin Johnny Cash records, so not only did I fall in love with cars, I fell in love with country music and I was about the height of this table.”

“So, thank you to my dad for introducing me to country music from a very young age,” he added with a grin.

Ever since then, Harvey pursued his love for country music, eventually crossing the pond to follow his dreams in Nashville, Tennessee. Once there, he joined Country music band King Calaway, where he made unforgettable memories AND gained once-in-a-lifetime experiences, such as opening for Garth Brooks and performing on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Late Show with James CordenTODAY, and The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he was isolated in Scotland, Harvey parted ways with the group to pursue his career as a solo artist. He wrote “well over a hundred songs in space of four or five months,” resulting in a vault full of music that we know will contribute to a very successful 2023.

Photo Credit BBR Music Group

Jordan Harvey picked five of the best tracks from his vault of 100+ songs to put into his debut EP It Is What It Is, titled “I Will,” “Along For The Ride,” “Overnight,” “Alabama Girl” and “Thing About Change.” When creating the album, Harvey “wanted to make sure that it was no fillers and it was all five songs that could be single contenders,” and we promise that they are ALL soon-to-be hits.

When talking about the project itself, he revealed, “this record is absolutely unapologetically myself. It’s a collection of five songs. Everything that is in this EP is stuff that I have lived, stuff that I’ve been through.”

While there is no song on the project titled “It Is What It Is,” the title of the EP has a very special meaning to Harvey, and it spreads a message that can resonate with listeners everywhere.

“It’s called It Is What It Is because I started this process back in July of 2020 and we were in a pandemic. The odds were kind of stacked against us, for everyone… I decided to be proactive and write and write and write, and I wrote a lot of songs,” he shared with us. “I really just was like, ‘Well, this is what it is… I can make light of this or I can make dark of it.”

“There’s, there’s many positives and negatives that come from that saying, but this record is unapologetically me and it’s everything that I wanted to throw into this record and more, and I’m just so proud of it and I’m so excited for people to hear it,” he added enthusiastically.

As a whole, “I wanted to make sure that when my time came in [as a solo artist], I put a record out that I wanted to bring a smile to people’s faces,” and we can confirm that It Is What It Is does exactly that.

He revealed to us, “I just really wanted to make an honest record that at this point would bring happiness to people’s lives, because I felt like where I was when creating this record was in a time of potential sadness… I want people to listen to this, I want people to relate to this, and I want people to be happy when they listen to this.”

Viral single “Alabama Girl” was Harvey’s first release off of It Is What It Is, ultimately catapulting the new solo artist’s career in the right direction. After teasing the song on TikTok, he amassed over a million views on the app, as well as over 10,000 followers in just one week. The budding country artist described the experience as a “very bizarre moment, but it was super awesome to see the reaction.”

The catchy track is about a “Bama girl that captures his (brave) heart and introduced him to a whole new world…one that becomes his whole world.”

Filmed in iconic locations around Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this song and its music video will have you screaming “Roll Tide!” regardless of whatever team you typically cheer for.

“Even if you don’t like Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, whoever you are, like that song, the way that song’s constructed, still makes you smile,” Harvey confirmed.

To follow “Alabama Girl,” Jordan Harvey put out the second song from the EP titled “I Will,” which is what really set the tone for the three tracks to follow, as well as the entirety of the project itself.

When he was sent the original demo for “I Will,” Harvey revealed, “I was just kinda like, ‘Okay, like let’s just see what this is,’ and I heard it and I remember as soon as the chorus hit, I was like ‘Oh my goodness, this is amazing.'”

Harvey describes “I Will” as the track “that kind of got me signed to Broken Bow [Records] as a solo artist, and that was my blueprint for everything that came after that. Once I had all the songs [in a folder], I went through and thought ‘well, that matches that, that goes with that.'”

When Harvey told us that “I Will” serves as the “blueprint” for It Is What It Is, we instantly knew the EP would be nothing short of amazing.

Photo Credit: Catherine Powell

With the EP aside, Jordan Harvey has even more plans for 2023 that are sure to make him a country music legend in no time.

“Right now I am on a radio tour and I’m out visiting the lovely people of country radio… It’s just been incredible,” he shared with us. “This year, I’ll visiting more stations, playing for more stations; I have a couple of shows next week in Vegas… we’re starting to build up the calendar right now.”

Business aside, Harvey has a personal goal for 2023 that he is trying to implement in ALL aspects of his life.

“I had one goal in mind this year and I’m going to live by this one word, and it’s consistency, and that’s consistency with everything in my life. Consistency with work, consistency with my family, consistency with my little dog that I never get to see that much; but hopefully I can consistently see him to some degree this year,” he explained. “I just want to be consistent this year, and I think if I hold myself accountable, then great things can come this year.”

We can’t wait to see Jordan Harvey flourish in 2023, both in his personal life AND as a solo artist! In the meantime, be sure to listen to It Is What It Is below and let us know which song you enjoy most by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.

You can learn more about Jordan Harvey and his music by watching our full interview with the rising country star below.

For more Country news, visit CelebSecretsCountry.com.

Author

  • Melanie Rooten

    Melanie has been working at Celeb Secrets since May of 2022. Originally from Southern California and currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee, she graduated from Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma in 2023 with a BA in Journalism. During her free time, she loves going to concerts and music festivals, binging her favorite TV shows, spending time with her friends and family and cheering on the Oklahoma Sooners (of course).

Melanie has been working at Celeb Secrets since May of 2022. Originally from Southern California and currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee, she graduated from Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma in 2023…

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