With her new single "One Kiss," musician Chelsea Shag wants to spread a message of universal love.
Shag released a video recently for the song that shows a mix of diverse couples sharing a kiss. The couples include a lesbian couple, a gay couple and two mixed-race straight couples.
I think it's important in this time," Shag said. "I'm all about love, whatever race, man or woman, and I just want to express that through my music too."
Shag, who is lesbian, said she wants anyone struggling to come out to feel supported and that it is okay to be who they are and hopes the song and video's message help them.
"If they are in the situation where they can't come out or are scared to be themselves, I want them to know they're not alone and that love is love."
She added, "In America, there is a lot of culture that is so anti-gay and Trump-minded people so it's kind of scary and I want them to know, you are not alone."
Shag said the idea for the music video came about with help from her partner.
"I'd imagined a diverse crowd of people in my video, but wasn't sure how [to do that], and she said 'right in the chorus I just see people kissing and they are diverse.' We started with this idea together."
Shag said the song originally was written a few years ago when she had fallen for a friend.
"I was really infatuated with this person who was my friend and I got inspired to write a song," she said. "I started with a beat and it came out of me in the moment, because I was feeling so intensely about this person. I thought, if something were to happen between us, would it change our friendship, and I had no idea. I was just expressing that."
"One Kiss" will be on Shag's full-length album coming out in the fall. She said while the songs on the album are varied, love is definitely a main theme.
"Most of my songs are about love. … They all sound very different from each other, but they're all about love."
Shag said it's hard to describe her sound and style of music because she draws from a variety of genres and influences, but she particularly loves pop and R&B and said she is a big John Mayer fan.
"I love his style and writing and what he writes about," she said.
She also finds inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Erykah Badu, Amy Winehouse, Ella Fitzgerald, Fleetwood Mac, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell, to name a few.
Shag is recording her album in Atlanta where she lives. She is working with music producer Stefan Skarbek [who has worked with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen].
"I never worked with him before ["One Kiss"] and he kind of brought something different out of me and that was a really cool to experience, so I look forward to recording the other songs," she said.
Shag said Atlanta is a great place to be a musician.
"There is such a great underground scene in Atlanta. It's so diverse and there are so many talented people. What's different from other cities is we really support each other. People go to each other's shows. I play guitar for someone and she sings backup for me. It's really supportive and cool."
Shag said "One Kiss" is already spreading the love. During filming for the music video two of the actors hired for the shoot turned out to have met previously and had been interested in each other.
"They consider that as their first date and plan on going on another date," Shag said of the men.
"One Kiss" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.
