It can be hard to take risks. It always seems much smarter to stand pat and stay secure in what you know instead. You take a risk and you end up losing everything you had. Oftentimes, it becomes a matter of whether or not it's worth it. Ultimately, you never know whether or not something is going to work in your favor. These are the things Parker McCollum had to weigh in his mind for his new self-titled album. Would it all be worth it, even if it didn't take off the way he wanted?
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Recently, McCollum spoke with Billboard in promotion of his latest record. There, he opens up about what the publication calls "his rawest record yet." The way Parker sees it, he desperately had to do something fresh and a little difficult to catch that fire again. "I got to a point where I was like, 'I've got to go challenge myself again and go find that buzz again. It felt like, 'Just what are you made of? What are these years? Is this to ride off into the sunset now, or is this to go make your best record?" he explains.
Parker McCollum Says He Thought His New Album Would Be a Career Killer
He may seem self assured now that he's on the other side of making the record. However, it wasn't always this way in the middle of the process. In fact, oftentimes, McCollum would get cold feet and worry that he was going to ruin his career taking such a swing. "I'd freak out, like, 'What have I done? This is career suicide,'" Parker admits.
"Then I'd go back to the studio the next day and keep recording. You're forced to sit there and live with the album for several days in a row, so you're on this journey of 'All right, this is who I am.' But I just never enjoyed making a record as much as I enjoyed this one. Being in New York City, being focused and locked in to see what can I get out of myself musically if I really go there and get it? And [producers] Frank [Liddell] and Eric [Masse] were willing to go there," Parker adds.
