EXCLUSIVE: Jesse McCartney is trying to start a family but it's easier said than done, he says
Jesse McCartney has been busy.
The singer was putting the finishing touches on his new EP “All’s Well” (out now), gearing up for the accompanying tour starting mid-April — and he and wife Katie Peterson have been trying to have a baby.
“The truth is that it takes time and you have to be ready to go at all times. It’s not necessarily always as sexy as people talk about,” the 36-year-old singer tells TODAY.com over the phone.
It’s a sunny day in early March, a change of weather after severe storms have hit Los Angeles, and McCartney is getting ready to take his dog on a hike. But first, he’s spilling all the details about his new music and the challenges of starting a family.
McCartney and Peterson began dating in 2012 and have been married since October 2021. Their dog, Bailey, served as their flower girl. Now, almost three years later, the couple is hoping to expand their crew. But as McCartney notes it’s easier said than done — so he decided to sing about it in “Make A Baby” featuring Yung Gravy.
“It’s a different thing completely when you’re starting a family, but I knew I wanted to write something (about) that,” he says.
“I was in the studio initially getting a little too heavy and I was like, you know what, let’s just strip this back and make it a playful song about having to be prepared to,” he pauses, “'perform’ everywhere.”
The result was the playful and kitschy track about, well, making a baby. One guy is actually trying to have a family, he explains, while the other guy is a “bit more apprehensive.”
“I didn’t want it to be too sappy or too heavy of a record about starting a family,” he says, adding, “I’m still making pop music.”
McCartney’s fans know the singer makes heartwarming tracks like “Beautiful Soul,” brings the sexy with “Body Language,” and croons over life events in “Tie the Knot” and “Party for Two.” “All’s Well,” he says, includes the most “vulnerable” songwriting he’s ever done — but with a twist.
The EP consists of five new songs, with two versions of “Make a Baby.” The singer says that the additional three tracks were played live in the studio.
With “Make a Baby,” McCartney had fun with the release of the song by sharing a photo of him next to a pregnant belly. While many congratulated him on the post — and some distant family members even texted him — it was all a marketing plan to get the song attention.
His wife “was in on it the whole time” and “supportive.”
Yet when it comes to the realities of being a musician and wanting to start a family, McCartney acknowledges that it's a serious conversation he and Peterson are having. He also know that his priorities will change.
“Everything that you’re doing (will be) for somebody else, I realize that,” he says. “As much as I’m still going to try and have this great career and balance it all out, my priorities will change. That’s not lost on me.”
The singer says that he might even reconsider the type of music he makes so that he can make his future child “super proud.”
“I’m still thinking about that and what that looks like. I mean, first I need to make a baby,” he says with a laugh. “And then I need to start thinking about what kind of music I want to write for the baby. Who knows, maybe I’ll start making lullaby, children’s albums for the next few years.”
In the meantime, he’s excited to get on the road and perform his new songs along with his hits from the past decades. His shows will consist about 90 minutes to two hours of “high octane, high energy.”
The tour kicks off April 12 in Austin, Texas, and wraps May 16 in Los Angeles.
Below, in his own words, McCartney breaks down each of his songs on “All’s Well.”
“Faux Fur”
“Faux Fur,” released in January, was the leading single from the EP. The song was previously described in notes from the EP as “retro R&B majesty of DeBarge and Bruno Mars’ glow.”
“It just felt like how music used to be done and was very refreshing for me,” McCartney said in the notes. “It was a big breakthrough, and it set the tone for the rest of the project.”
“Make a Baby”
“The marketing and the promo, I think, initially threw people for a loop, intentionally, but it was a lot of fun. This is a song that I (was) struggling to get made for the last six months. It just took a lot of back and forth between Gravy’s camp and my camp, and just trying to align schedules to get it finished. A lot of times we almost failed on even putting it out. But I’m so happy we did because the reception has been great, streams have been incredible. The fans are super into it. I think once they were let in on the joke, I think they were like, ‘Oh yeah, of course, makes more sense now.’”
“Silver Spoon”
“It’s a song about somebody that I know who was born with a lot of privilege and a lot given to them in their life, and sometimes their social awareness is a problem. They don’t always realize what they’re saying or how it’s coming across when they’re around other people. And I love these people. They’re people that I love. I have friends and family that come from all different walks of life, but it definitely inspired this song because it’s sometimes just so hard to ignore when people don’t have any awareness of who they’re around and they’re speaking as everyone should have the privilege that they have.
So it was based on a real experience about this girl who was born basically with a silver spoon in her mouth. There are people out there that just have it like that. They have no worries and don’t have to worry about anything because of means. It’s intended to have sort of a little bit of a jab, but it’s still playful just like the rest of the songs on this record. It’s got a little bit of a wink to it, but it’s also like, “Hey, cut that s--- out.”
“The Well”
“Of the four songs, this is definitely the most serious in tone. It describes what it’s like being in a dark place, like a well, and having to find ways to climb out and not always knowing how to do that and feeling like you’re getting further and further into the well and not being able to see the light.
For me, it’s about having somebody — in this case, it’s my wife, Katie — that can help pull you out and that it’s OK to not be able to pull yourself out on your own. That’s something that I’ve not always been comfortable talking about in my writing. It’s definitely the most vulnerable songwriting I’ve done in many years. I’m really proud of it.
I think it’s very relatable and I think a lot of people can identify with that feeling of just like never-ending darkness and ‘How do I escape it? Who do I reached out to? Who do I talk to, to get out of it.’ I think it’s definitely the slowest and the most serious of the records on this project.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
