Will Slater is a county music singer and University of Georgia student who released his single “Slip Away” on Feb. 7.
Q: Your latest song “Slip Away” has been well received. What was the inspiration behind it, and how did you approach the songwriting process?
A: Well, the inspiration behind it, you’ve woke up hungover before, and you waste your entire day. I was just, I was not hungover, and I woke up and I was, like, it feels good to not let the day just piss away. I wrote about that, how I keep telling myself I’m not gonna do that.
The songwriting process, it’s the same as every other song. I just start off with a line that sounds good and full progression that I like, and then it just snowballs and turns into something I like overall.
Q: Who were your biggest musical influences growing up, and how have they shaped your sound today?
A: Growing up, I didn’t listen to really any music. My dad, we would get in the car, and he would turn the radio off and hate to listen to music. My mom was really big into Prince, so I like Prince a lot, Michael Jackson. Then as I got older, my brother introduced me to more country like Hank Williams and Merle Haggard, and all that stuff. And I remember about 2019, I got put onto Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan.
Q: A Pew Research study showed that around 37% of adult TikTok users in the U.S. follow accounts who post about viral music. How do you feel about TikTok, specifically with your music getting discovered through social media?
A: TikTok has not been good to me for the most part. I mean, It’s helped me out here and there, but I don’t know. I think it’s a really good avenue for people that need to get something off the ground. But once you get off the ground with it, I don’t think you need to rely on it. I believe more in the traditional sense of promotion, in terms of getting out and playing at places, instead of hammering down social media.
Q: Do you wish that you didn’t even have to use social media at all with your music, such as in the 1990s when people sold CDs?
A: Yes. I was talking to my engineer at the studio, he did music too in the ‘90s and early 2000s, and it blows my mind how you could ever get something to work like that. I asked him how that would do it, and he was, like, you just go out. You hand out fliers, you hand out your CDs with the fliers. You sell the CDs for 25 cents, so that the people actually buy them and you make some money back. I would love to do that. I would much prefer to do that than laying in bed making TikTok, looking like an idiot.
Q: What’s next for you? Do you have any upcoming projects or tours?
A: Not really a tour, but we have every weekend in March filled. We’re playing in Virginia, Atlanta, Mississippi and Clemson. I’ve got probably a song coming out every month for the rest of the year.
Comments trimmed for length and clarity.
Matthew Herren is a journalism major covering local music.
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