After his cinematic “Knowing You” video, which juxtaposed the bitter cold of a Northeastern fishing boat with the tropical warmth of love on a sailboat, Kenny Chesney returns with an equally breathtaking clip that celebrates the glory of the natural world, a woman’s spirit of adventure and trusting one’s own instincts to anchor the panoramic “Everyone She Knows,” the follow-up to the No. 1 country waltz that was nominated for Song of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Working with longtime creative collaborator Shaun Silva of Tacklebox Films, the pair crafted a mini-movie that follows a single woman through redwood forests, along coastal highways, through the Grand Canyon, mountain expanses and across the desert as she chases beauty and possibly her own heart. Galaxies from the traditional girl-meets-boy videos that traditionally accompany songs like this, Chesney sought to create a visual that reflected how powerful women in their own space can be.
“I have been surrounded by strong women who lead these lives on their own terms my whole life,” Chesney says of the clip’s portrayal. “Nothing is more powerful or interesting than a woman who has a sense of her destiny and is willing to go chase it. It’s not always conventional, but that’s what makes their passion so much stronger. Whether it’s my island friends, musicians like Grace Potter, several women on my team; they have a way of embracing life that’s unlike anyone else – and I think that’s awesome.”
Written by Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman and Josh Osborne, “Everyone She Knows” looks at a young woman old enough to recognize the fairy princess promises don’t mean settling, but instead making your own way. With chiming acoustic guitars, a chorus that spins the melody around and a notion that there’s more to life than getting married, it continues Chesney’s litany of independent women who aren’t afraid of love, but not at the price of their dreams.
“When Shaun and I started talking about who this woman should be,” Chesney continues, “we wanted to show her on the road, in the world, against a backdrop of the path not taken. Whether it’s the woman FaceTiming friends, sitting on top of her van or by the fire, you get that sense of not just how big the world is, but how great her spirit is. To me, those free spirits should be empowered to chase their dreams and show us what the rest of us miss.”
In a van called “Storyteller,” our heroine could be an adventurer, scientist, blogger, teacher or researcher measuring the vastness of the wild. Or she could be one more person escaping from the reality of expectation, seeking something more beyond the city limits. Either way, the mini-film shows a serenity and embrace of the soul that is hard for most people to come by.
Whether the No. 1 “Wild Child” with Grace Potter, the teen driving off to find her life in the seven week chart-topper “There Goes My Life,” summer love in “Anything But Mine,” the islands’ free spirits who populate “Happy on the Hey Now (A Song for Kristi),” “Sherry’s Living In Paradise,” “Boston” or album cuts “On The Coast of Somewhere Beautiful” and “The Road and the Radio,” “Everyone She Knows” continues a tradition of unexpected strength and beauty.
With his Here And Now 2022 Tour set to kick off April 23 at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, Chesney is ready for some adventure of his own. Three years since No Shoes Nation came together in song, there’s no doubt that the free spirits, country music fans and lovers of light will be feeling the joy together.
