Story Behind the Song: Jimmie Allen, ‘Best Shot’
Jimmie Allen made history with his chart-topping debut single, "Best Shot," but before the song was released, the singer went through several different versions of the track before he figured out the right approach. Read on to learn how "Best Shot" got its signature acoustic style, and how it all started with a simple melody.
I'm a vibe guy -- vibe and melody. So when a melody gets in my head and I can't forget it, man, it's like, "Man, I don't know what the heck this song's gonna be about, but it feels good." And that's what really pulls people towards songs: the feelings before the lyrics.
That melody was just so strong in my head. I remember we wrote it, and then came back the next week and finished it up, and time went by, and I kept bringing the song back up to the guys. Like, "Man, that "Best Shot" song, we need to demo it. We need to do this."
So we demoed it up, and we had, like, an uptempo rock version of the song. It was like Nickelback meets FGL. It was, like, six clicks faster. And then we were like, "Yeah, that's not it ..."
And I remember, finally, I was at the Bluebird [Cafe], and I played it with just acoustic and vocals. My manager, Ash [Bowers], was like, "What song was that?" I was like, "That's "Best Shot." I sent it to you." He says, "No, you didn't."
I said, "I sent you that song." He was like, "You didn't send me a song that sounded like that." So that's kind of how "Best Shot" came to be.
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