There’s a lot to love about Hearts Beat Loud.
Not only is it a heartfelt and captivating coming-of-age story that takes a subtle yet still powerful approach to representation, but it features an array of incredibly catchy songs.
The catchiest of these is the titular track, which is the sort of song that you’re more than happy to have stuck in your head. If you’ve not had the pleasure of hearing Kiersey Clemons sing Hearts Beat Loud yet, then click here so that you can listen to it immediately.
Alongside Nick Offerman, Clemons is one half of the father and daughter band that take Red Hook by storm in “Hearts Beat Loud.”
But while Offerman’s guitar playing and musicianship is impressive, it is Clemons’ voice that really sets the film alight. I recently had the chance to speak to Kiersey Clemons about “Hearts Beat Loud,” and she broke down the process of her singing the vocals for the film, admitting that they recorded her both on set and in a studio.
“Because we didn’t know what we were going to do. Our goal was live vocals, but we filmed those vocal scenes over a couple of days. So in case I lost my voice, we had to have a back-up plan. But luckily I didn’t lose my voice, so we were able to use live vocals, so we accomplished our goal.”
The songs played in “Hearts Beat Loud” were written by Keegan DeWitt. But his influence on the film actually extends far beyond that, as Clemons revealed that co-writer and director Brett Haley was inspired to make the film after hearing DeWitt’s original version of Hearts Beat Loud.
“The idea of the movie came from Brett hearing Keegan’s song ‘Hearts Beat Loud.’ He kind of wrote the movie of a father and a daughter with this idea in mind and then around the song.”
“Brett told Keegan, ‘I want to write a movie based around this song.’ And then a year later he brought him the script.”
Clemons also provided some insight into her collaborations with Offerman, DeWitt and Haley ahead of production, admitting that, alongside composer Jeremy Bullock, they formed a de facto band together for rehearsal.
“The first time we met we met at music rehearsal. And it was me, Nick, Brett and then Keegan and Jeremy Bullock and we all sat down and immediately went to work working on our songs, and the vocals, and their version of it, and getting into choreographing this piece and how much we could actually do.”
“Because we wanted to do as much as we could. Then we would take all of our instruments home, and we would work on it when we’d wrap at the end of the day. It was a process. I think, in all of the little rehearsal pieces and moments that we had me and Nick were able to bond.”
“Because you feel really vulnerable where you are having to do something that your character is much better at you than you are. Although I can sing and play keyboard and this sampler, Sam is incredible and far more talented than I am.”
All of which is even more impressive when you consider just how short the production schedule was for “Hearts Beat Loud.”
“We shot the movie in 18 days. We recorded the song a week and a half before we shot. It was scary at first because I didn’t know if I could do it.”
“But once I realized I could do it, and I just had to make the most use of my time, it was just part of the job really. Whenever you do a movie or TV show there is going to be some type of preparation or learning that is out of your comfort zone. So I expect that.”
You can listen to Kiersey Clemons’ incredible singing, and just revel in the all-round beauty of “Hearts Beat Loud” now, as the musical drama has just been released.
