If you’re looking for a feel-good summertime party song, Shantaia’s latest single “Had A Good Weekend” just might be it!
Shantaia is a Canadian singer/songwriter from Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. She recently made the move to Nashville where she hopes to grow her country music career and release more new music.
This single has been released with a fun party themed music video that fits perfectly with the song’s upbeat summer vibe. With over 207k streams already, this song is definitely one you can listen to on repeat for a few hours at a time.
I was able to have an awesome chat with Shantaia about her new song and music video. We covered everything from writing the single, behind the scenes of filming, some incredible artists she’s had the chance to open for, and a ton more! But before you read the interview, you’re gonna want to check out the music video for “Had A Good Weekend” ASAP.
Listen to our conversation with Shantaia
Watch The Music Video For “Had A Good Weekend” By Shantaia
Our Interview With Country Artist Shantaia
Taylor Jean: Thanks so much for chatting with us on the Front Porch! We’re so glad that you’re able to take the time to do this interview and talk about your latest project!
Let’s start by giving you an opportunity to introduce yourself to everyone at Front Porch. Tell us a little about your roots and how you got into music.
Shantaia: Yeah! Well, my name is Shantaia, I was born and raised in Saskatchewan. My hometown is Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. So a northern Sask girl.
I started in music at a really young age. I was three years old when my parents put me in singing lessons, and then six when my older cousin taught me how to play guitar and started writing songs as early as nine years old. So music has just been a part of my life … my entire life.
As I got older, I started entering competitions across Canada, playing all kinds of country music festivals and jamborees. At 13 I won a $10,000 grant through a radio station in Saskatoon where I recorded eight of my own original songs. From there it sort of skyrocketed, and I knew I wanted to do a career in music and just really focus on music since I was 13 years old.
It’s been crazy and it led me to Nashville, so I’m very grateful and thankful for all the opportunities that have come my way through music.
Taylor Jean: Wow that’s really cool! I bet being 13 and winning that huge grant would have been amazing and super motivating!
Shantaia: Yeah, and I was the youngest recipient to receive that grant. They were really trying to help Saskatchewan artists with recording new music and there were so many incredible artists, I believe Codie Prevost had got it … I wanna say Tenille Arts, Jess Moskaluke, you know a lot of our Saskatchewan country artists were a part of that and yeah it was pretty crazy just being in that category and 13 years old at that.
Taylor Jean: So you’ve recently released your new single “Had A Good Weekend” which has almost 200 thousand streams and is currently charting on Canadian country radio, so congratulations on that! I love the song! What was the process like behind creating this song?
Shantaia: Yeah, “Had A Good Weekend” was so much fun to write. I wrote it with my go-to guy Ryan Sorestad, I talk about him in every interview.
I wrote “Two Cents” with him which was my release before “Had A Good Weekend,” just the two of us on that one, and then again just the two of us on “Had A Good Weekend.”
He’s a fellow Saskatchewan native but he’s been living in Nashville for eight years now. I met him on a song-writing trip four or five years ago through my cousin, and then he came back to Saskatchewan about two years ago now and drove into Saskatoon and I had this verse already written and the melody for “Had A Good Weekend.”
Didn’t know what the name of the song was gonna bet yet, just playing with it, and I showed it to him. It was pouring rain outside and we were feeling a little down and I was like let’s pick it up a little bit. I have this fun idea I just don’t know where it’s going, and I showed it to him, and he was like yeah let’s write this! And that’s kinda how “Had A Good Weekend” was born.
I just knew from the moment we wrote it that it needed to be released into the world and a radio release at that, which has been a wild ride so far.
Stream “Had A Good Weekend” By Shantaia On Apple Music
Taylor Jean: Have you had it played on radio yet?
Shantaia: Yes, actually had some crazy news this past week! We hit 59 on billboard and we’re still climbing so hoping to get that first top 50 at Canadian Country radio! It’s been crazy because I’ve released three back-to-back singles here since January last year and each of them have done well, but every time I release something new the next one does a little bit better and a little bit better and this one just exceeding my expectations so far, so very exciting!
Taylor Jean: What do you want your listeners to know about you as an artist from the song “Had A Good Weekend?”
Shantaia: Well, I feel like this song is a bit of a new side for my listeners from my last couple releases and the EP that I put out in April last year.
This song is just more of a fun feel-good vibe and I’m showing more of a fun side to myself as an artist and a writer and I think that’s also going to keep going as I keep releasing music here in the near future. I hope they feel good when they listen to a song like “Had A Good Weekend,” and hopefully the next couple releases will also reflect that same feel-good vibe.
Taylor Jean: So, you’ve just released a music video for the single! What was the filming and creative process like for you and your team?
Shantaia: Yeah! Well, I talked to a few different video directors and then my roommate Chrystal Leigh from the band Sons Of Daughters, was like hey why don’t you check into working with Ryan Nolan, he’s a fellow Canadian living here in Nashville and I think you two would click. So, I reached out to Ryan and we did click.
Everything that I said to him, he took and elevated it and honestly as an artist and as a creative person you picture things in your head and hope that they turn out something like that, and Ryan absolutely nailed it.
It’s one of those songs that is the perfect kind of song to get everybody together, have that party video and put some cool little humor aspects to it. I had friends chugging drinks and doing a fun little text scene, and just all those fun little gimmicks. My friend Nash who played Kyle in the music video had hand cuffs on like he escaped from the cop car, you know leave it up to Kyle to get arrested.
Ryan just put so much thought into finding those little moment where the audience could laugh with us, so it was so much fun and I can’t wait to work with Ryan again, he was absolutely amazing to work with.
Taylor Jean: Awesome! I really enjoyed the video, it looked like a lot of fun to film.
Shantaia: Yeah, and all the people that showed up for me, being that I just moved to Nashville, to have that many friends and some people that I hadn’t even met yet came with a couple other friends and just absolutely had the most fun doing the music video. They weren’t actors or actresses, they were just friends coming to have some drinks and have a good time, and everybody absolutely nailed it, so it was just super cool to have people show up for you like that, it’s really quite a cool feeling.
Stream It On Spotify
Taylor Jean: You’ve opened for some of Nashville’s biggest names such as; Kane Brown, Chris Lane, Ryan Hurd, Emerson Drive and more. What have you learned about yourself as an artist through the exposure of these performers?
Shantaia: Wow, I mean first of all opening up for artists like that is incredible and I’ve been super lucky to not only get to open up for them but to have their people and artists welcome me onto their tour bus to say hi and chat.
Chris Lane literally sat me and my band down in the back of his bus and chatted with us for you know half an hour 40 minutes and was really interested in us and our lives and our musical history and asked so many questions to get to know us.
It’s really humbling when you get to do that with artists of that level and to feel like you’re doing something right and being able to talk with them and hear all their wisdom and knowledge they have in the business. Its uplifting and inspiring and I’ve learned so much about myself as an artist and a performer.
When I opened up for Chris Lane I had just broke my foot and dislocated it, had surgery and it was 6-7 weeks after and the doctor had just got me walking but didn’t want me bearing weight yet, and I had to get his approval to tape my foot up and put a cowboy boot on and walk very carefully out on stage, sit down, you know it was just a crazy ride and the things you do to pursue your dream and take those opportunities when you get them.
All in all, great experiences I wouldn’t change for the world and those artists have really inspired me and helped me kind of guide and know that I’m on the right track, so it’s very encouraging.
Taylor Jean: Who are you listening to right now? What top tracks are you listening to?
Shantaia: Yeah, I always love everything that Maren Morris does, she’s such an inspiration in my music and my writing, but I’ve been listening to Emily Weisband on repeat lately and my roommate Chrystal introduced me to her single she just released called “New Salt,” and the lyric and the melodies, everything about it is so captivating, and then I went into it total deep dive and listened to the last three albums she put out, and everything is so consistently incredible so that has been on repeat for probably the last four or five months now.
What I also love is she’s not country, she’s more of a pop, and I know she’s here in Nashville. It’s cool to see people doing their own thing and not be in a box. I really wanna be that artist that feels like I can venture out and push the boundaries a little bit and find those cool new melodies and not feel like I’m stepping on anybody’s toes but just doing what feeds my soul.
I feel like Emily Weisband really encapsulates that whole energy where she just does what feeds her soul and people relate to it. She’s really incredible, if you haven’t listened to her you need to listen to her music, she’s amazing.
Taylor Jean: If you could open for any artist, who would it be and why?
Shantaia: Well, I feel like I have to say Martina McBride because I know she hasn’t been doing a whole lot of music lately or performing but she was my childhood favourite. Her albums were always on repeat and she was a huge inspiration for me as a brunette female coming up in the business, there was so many you know blonde females, and I’d say her, and Shania Twain were just like role models of mine that I could look up to in the music industry and know that there was a place for me. So, Martina or Shania, either of them just my childhood favs just forever would be my favourites.
Taylor Jean: Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself, your new single, or the music video for it?
Shantaia: Just for everybody to go and watch the music video, it’s on YouTube! It was featured on CMT’s website along with four other incredible emerging artists and that was a huge milestone for me having CMT take notice of me and my music and the video, so I was really stoked about that. So, everybody just go watch the music video and stream the song and make it that summertime jam!
Taylor Jean: Thanks so much for joining us on the Front Porch and letting us get to know more about you!
Stream “Had A Good Weekend” By Shantaia
Taylor Jean
Hey, I’m Taylor Jean! Lover of all thing’s country from my cowboy boots to my down-home roots. When I’m not out seeking an adventure or jammin’ to some country tunes by a fire, I’m working at JR Country radio station in Vancouver. A few of my favourite country artists are Dallas Smith, Tim McGraw, and Jon Pardi.
