You Don't Want That Smoke

Album: Religiously. The Album. (2023)
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Songfacts®:

  • "You Don't Want That Smoke" ignites with introspection, weaving vivid imagery into a soulful ballad. Bailey Zimmerman compares a captivating love interest to a blazing fire that can scorch anyone who ventures too close. This person, he warns, will passionately embrace you until the very last puff, only to leave you smoldering in the ashes of heartbreak.
  • Jimi Bell and Tucker Beathard penned the song and texted it to Zimmerman. When the Illinois-born artist received the message, he didn't recognize the number.

    "They had never texted me," he told Apple Music. "And it was just a song. I clicked on it one day right before [I took a] shower and put it on. I went to go get in the shower and then I stopped. I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, what is this?' The chair's scooting up before he starts the guitar on the demo. The demo is awesome."
  • Recognizing its raw potential, Zimmerman made sure the demo received the utmost care and attention it deserved. When the time came to record Religiously The Album, he went to great lengths to capture the essence of the track and do it justice. "It took me a whole day and whole night to cut that song, just getting the texture right, because it's such a quiet song," Zimmerman said. "I just cut it and cut it and cut it."
  • "You Don't Want That Smoke" is one of four outside cuts that Bailey Zimmerman included on Religiously. The Album..

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