The country star puts tropical twist on latest single
Kristian Bush is squeezing the last rays of sunshine out of summer this Labor Day weekend with a fresh island remix of his new song “Little Umbrellas.”
“It’s just joyous,” Bush says of “Little Umbrellas (Island Version).” “People will hear this and love it. It reminded me I’m a songwriter because I wrote that song alone. It not only worked well as the song when I recorded it but also varied quickly at the speed of current culture and reinvented itself within a month. People speed things up and slow them down and put them on TikTok. I decided just to skip it all and make a reggae version.”
Kristian put the tropical twist on his popular summer song “Little Umbrellas” from his recent Drink Happy Thoughts EP with help from Hawaiian artist/producer Ryan Hiraoka. Inspired by a summer trip to Hawaii, “Little Umbrellas (Island Version)” combines the infectious melodies for which Kristian is known with the vacation vibes and irresistible appeal of sipping away a broken heart in the land of never-ending summer.
Kristian mentored Ryan earlier this year at the Hawaii Songwriting Festival. When Ryan told Kristian he was interested in creating an island country style that could work with mainstream country audiences, Kristian had an idea. He sent Ryan several of his songs to see what piqued his creativity, “Little Umbrellas” is one Ryan thought he could reimagine.
“‘Little Umbrellas’ jumped out at me because it really describes a ‘tiki bar’ experience,” Ryan says. “The first thing I did was add ukulele on it for that authentic island feel.”
Ryan added more drums and percussion to further amp up the reggae vibe and said the goal is to expand Kristian’s “tiki bar sound” to a broader fanbase.
Kristian says the magic of reggae music is that it delivers a message of good and change in “a beautiful, comfortable package using rhythm and melody to not just make you feel better, but also teach you something along the way.”
“Reggae music has traveled around the world,” Kristian says. “It’s not something that is just native to Jamaica anymore. It has an incredible fusion with the songwriting of Hawaiians. So why can’t it have a fusion with a songwriter from Tennessee?”
