‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Scheana Shay Reveals How Taylor Swift Inspired Her Upcoming EP
Bravo’s announcement Tuesday (Nov. 26) that Vanderpump Rules is relaunching with a new cast of SURvers may not have been “Good as Gold” news for longtime viewers, but Scheana Shay — one of the hit show’s OG stars — has her focus on a passion project: her upcoming EP with The 27s. And believe it or not, pop superstar Taylor Swift had some part in the inspiration.
“What I wanted to do with this EP was each song is kind of — and this is my Taylor Swift inspo — is a different era of Scheana,” the singer and TV personality, who attended the Eras Tour, tells Billboard. “So you have the ‘Apples’ Scandoval era, you have the ‘Boy Crazy’ era, ‘Sweet & Sour’ is like the mean girl, the early Vanderpump Rules era, and the next single I have is called ‘Miss Understood.’ So that is just a combination of 11 years on reality TV feeling like I’ve been a little misunderstood! But it’s a really good song. That one is a little more poppy, and then we have a couple more that are definitely more rock.”
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And like Swift, Shay — who has her own NFL ties via hosting some of Smirnoff’s We Do Game Day Matchups, with her next one being Dec. 5 in Detroit — will also be doing at least one other new take (Scheana’s Version, if you will) of her own tunes. “We’re doing a stripped-down version of ‘Apples.’ It’s just gonna be a more acoustic vibe, slower,” the Scheananigans podcast host shares of the bop that originally arrived in August 2023. The tune was inspired by co-star Tom Sandoval’s affair with their friend Rachel Leviss (dubbed “Scandoval” for its betrayal of fan-favorite castmate Ariana Madix, Sandoval’s partner of nearly 10 years and one of Leviss’ closest friends), which Shay performed during the VPR season 11 finale. “That’s the only one we’re really redoing. We already did the Screamo Version of ‘Good as Gold,’ but I’m really excited.”
Though Shay wasn’t sure about the future of the hit Bravo reality show when she spoke to Billboard, she said at the time that she was in no major rush to get the EP out, hoping that this would give VPR the chance to document her artistic process, which the show has done in past seasons. “I would love for at least, if it’s not me in the recording booth, that when we do the release, that that’s captured in some way,” she says of her ideal scenario. “And if it’s not on Vanderpump Rules, it would be on my YouTube channel, and I’ll vlog everything that doesn’t get shown on the show.”
The TV personality adds that she and The 27s have already mastered “a couple songs,” and that the new single would be out before the EP arrives. “It’s such a good song that I don’t want to release it without a visual aspect, so just figuring out if we’re gonna do a full music video for that … but it will be coming soon, at least that single,” she shares. “And then I would love to have the EP out before the end of the year.”
But if a new single and EP aren’t enough to fulfill fans’ appetites, Shay teased that there may be something else on the way for VPR devotees: a collab with co-stars Lala Kent and Ally Lewber. “Lala and I, we actually talked about doing a song with Ally!” reveals the podcaster, who shares daughter Summer Moon with husband Brock Davies. “It might be more of like a children’s song, but I recently recorded a song with Station Little, and they do a bunch of pop inspiring music for kids. … We were thinking about it, and we’re like, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if the three of us did something together?’ Maybe around the holidays, which I know is approaching quickly, so we would need to figure that out soon, but we have talked about the three of us partnering with Station Little and doing something for the kids! I’m in my mom era!”
Though pop music and parenting are in the influencer’s wheelhouse, she hopes to step outside the box with her music too. “I would love to collaborate with a legend like Dr. Dre, Eminem, where I’m just on the hook and they’re doing their thing they do. They’re so talented!” she gushed of the hip-hop icons. “Snoop Dogg, maybe Drake, but definitely more on the hip-hop side if I was going to do a collab. I feel like people would expect me to say, like, Britney Spears or something pop or Gwen Stefani. No! Put me in the studio with Dr. Dre and I would be a very happy girl!”
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