Today we’d like to introduce you to Daisy Sellas.
Hi Daisy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to my story– ups and downs is an understatement and somehow I wound up back in the west, making my way back to Nashville as much as I can. I’ve been playing music and writing songs since I could pick up a guitar on a ranch in Southern California and then attended Belmont University. Having graduated in 2021, I made my way down to lower Broadway to try and make a living and make a name for myself as a songwriter, meeting all kinds of incredible characters along the way– some are close friends to this day, and some are villains that still slink around in the shadows down there. After brushes with addiction and escaping an abusive relationship, I worked to help others in similar situations both by running my non-profit, Anthems Against Abuse and by getting ready to release my album, “Crazy Loves You,” set to be released on August 21st. It’s a collection of songs that tell one story, a narrative arc of the narcotic melodies that slither through this town, but it’s really meant to make people, especially women, who are struggling feel less alone.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road, and anyone who tells you Nashville is a smooth road is crazy. 🙂 No, but in all seriousness, I was open-hearted and naive when I first graduated from Belmont and fell in with the wrong crowd, breaking my back to please people downtown thinking it would pave the way to success when really it took a lot of the passion out of what I was doing for a long time. I also got addicted to some terrible substances introduced to me by those villains I mentioned before, and worked hard to come out on the other side. Family, friends, lots of therapy and most importantly writing songs through it all helped me cope throughout the process. On a more universal level, I think trying to fit into the Nashville box is a struggle– my music certainly has country elements but it’s also classic rock, southern rock, funk and blues, so allowing myself to make the music I love without feeling pressure to fit into any one genre was a struggle but ultimately very freeing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
To answer this, I think I’ll start with what I’m most proud of, because I think it encapsulates what I do and what sets me apart from others very well: I tell the truth in my music. This sounds simple and obvious but in a town like Nashville that is increasingly becoming a place where it isn’t the best, most honest song that gets played, truth-telling is essential because it makes people feel less alone. I felt deeply alone after my dark times and could have used an album like the one I am about the release, so I hope that this new record allows people to feel all of the emotions without any shame or guilt. My team helped phrase it pretty well in this write up for the album:
Smoking reds and running red lights. Champagne in late July. White lines in late October. Chapped lips and fresh black eyes. Paint chipping off of an old weathervane. A cigarette being put out on a a woman’s face. These are just a few of the jarring images that fill Daisy and the Difference’s album, Crazy Loves You— and they are just the beginning of this explosive, tantalizing debut.
“This album, these songs, they were a survival mechanism for me,” Daisy reminisces. “Trying to piece together fragmented memories and an attempt to heal the immense trauma from the end of the relationship.”
The relationship in question was a violent one— and this album, pardon the pun, pulls no punches. It’s a powerful exploration of the boozy, drug-filled descent into fear and madness, followed by the slow crawl back to the light, back to reality following an abusive relationship. On side one, the scene is set in Nashville, on the neon-soaked streets of Broadway, where the narrator meets the devil disguised as her true love. Awake for days at a time and consumed with fixing an unfixable thing, she nearly loses her mind before ending things— but this wouldn’t be the last of it. Side two details rebounds, relapses and self-medication and until finally, somewhat healed, she looks back on all of it with wistful ache, knowing she will never be the same.
“It’s crazy looking back on all of this now that a lot of time has passed,” Daisy continues. “I was so deep in all of it, it was difficult to even record parts of it. But with the support of my band, The Difference, my friends and family and, of course, therapy, I can look back on the making of the record with such immense pride— it’s the thing I’ve worked hardest on in my whole life, and that’s saying a lot.”
Therapeutic might be the perfect word for this record. Its intense honesty about taboo topics that have been historically shrouded in shame— domestic violence, drug use, functioning alcoholism— make listeners, especially women, feel like they aren’t alone. Sonically, this record takes inspiration from Hank Williams Sr., Delbert McClinton, Patty Loveless and the Rolling Stones, resulting in a funky country with swampy aftertastes of southern rock.
“The album is meant to emulate our live shows,” Daisy says. “We played these songs for months before heading to the studio, so we had a super good handle on how we wanted them to sound— and everyone that played on this record is a friend, so despite the trauma it describes, we had an incredible time making it.”
When asked what is the one thing she wants people to take away from this album, Daisy ponders for a moment: “It’s gotta be the community part of it,” she finally answers. “I want people who hear this to enjoy the melodies and instruments and catch a vibe, but I also want them to feel seen and not alone. I want anyone who has ever had a traumatic relationship in any way to feel understood and validated in all stages of healing. It’s a sad but hopeful album, and I hope people who might be feeling sad start to feel hopeful after hearing listening to the whole thing.”
Crazy Loves You will be released on August 21st, 2026, Pre-order now.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
One of my favorite childhood memories is waking up in a tent with my dad on a backpacking trip in Southern Idaho and hearing the hooves a gigantic heard of elk just outside– we couldn’t see them because it was still dark, but we could hear them breathing and hanging out outside. That vibe is truly what brought me back to the west in the first place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://daisysellas517.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daisysellas517
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daisy.sellas/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daisysellas/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@daisysellas517
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Et43KcKwIe2upUp12oJTW?si=ouuwIc-YTy2paKgsirDJHA
