Story Behind the Song: Brandon Lay, ‘Yada Yada Yada’

Brandon Lay's "Yada Yada Yada" is a breakthrough hit that helped the then-fledgling artist rise into the country mainstream. When he first shared the track in May of 2018, Lay explained that he originally intended the nonsense words he sings in the chorus to serve as placeholders until he wrote more lyrics. However, "yada yada yada" turned out to perfectly fit the song.

"I had the melody in my head one day as I was driving home from a gig, but I didn't have any lyrics yet, so I was just humming 'yada yada yada' as dummy lyrics [into my phone]," he recalled. "A few days later, I was in a writing room with the voice memo, and Mikey [Reaves] and Heather [Morgan], [the song's co-writers], thought that would make a pretty good title in itself, so we went with it."

Now, the singer shares how the song has impacted his career and his life. Read on to learn more, in Lay's own words.

It's nice to be getting more airplay, and it's definitely helping our live show. When I moved to Nashville 10 years ago -- of course I wanted to get a record deal, and do music for a living -- but I loved the road, and I loved people. That's why I loved the road.

My dad was a preacher, and he always worked at church, and he's got a heart for people. I feel like there are so many parallels between singing country music and that. That's why I love touring. So with "Yada Yada Yada" doing a little bit better, and getting a little bit more mainstream, it's definitely helped those live shows, and helped us connect some dots.

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