“Give The Listeners A Familiar Sound” – Koe Wetzel On Why He Chose “Surrounded” For His First Single Since ‘9 Lives’

Opening up about his forthcoming single.

Koe Wetzel is about to embark on a new chapter of music, following up his last studio record, 9 Lives. Earlier this week, Koe Wetzel shared a teaser of the studio cut of his unreleased song, “Surrounded,” which he has played a couple of times live at different events. The teaser was sent out to his fans via text, and he is sharing a link to pre-save the tune, which likely means the full song will be dropping in the next week or so.

In a separate Instagram post, he confirmed that he’s been in the studio and something is coming soon:

“There’s been a lot of life happening lately, just wanted to check in and let y’all know I’ve been in the studio writing a bunch of new music. Really excited and look forward to sharing something with y’all soon! Please continue to keep Texas in your thoughts and prayers, me and a bunch of friends of mine are putting our efforts together to help our fellow Texans during this time. God Bless Texas.”

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Long before Wetzel began teasing the studio version of the tune, he was playing it on the road, building excitement for the next chapter of music from the East Texas native. Because Koe was previewing “Surrounded,” we asked him if he knew that would be the first single since 9 Lives when he sat down for an episode of Whiskey Riff Raff. Wetzel was confident that “Surrounded” would be what they led off with.

“I think that’s what we are going to do for the first single. We just finished up the last mix of it, so it’s off at mastering right now. So we are getting pretty close with it. I’m excited about that song. 

We’ve got 3 or 4 other ones that we’ve kind of debated on throwing out first, but ‘Surrounded’ just feels really good for us right now. Especially coming off ‘9 Lives,’ we didn’t want to get too crazy with something different. We kind of wanted to give the listeners a familiar sound that they’re familiar with. So, ‘Surrounded’ felt that way.”

@whiskeyriff Wanted something that built off ‘9 Lives.’ // Listen to the Whiskey Riff Raff episode with @Koe Wetzel available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #koewetzel #newmusic #whiskeyriffraff ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

It appears that the building off the sound established on “9 Lives” will be a common trend for Koe’s upcoming record. At the beginning of 2025, Wetzel sat down with Katie Neal from Katie & Company when he was in the early days of getting back in the studio and revealed that he wants to continue with the track he’s established sonically.

“Just kind of growing off of ‘9 Lives.’ You know, I think the music that I’ve made for so long has just kind of instilled into me and just kind of soldered into me and with this new music out, with the new record, I just kind of wanted to get a little bit more of that rock ‘n’ roll side. Back to that Texas rock ‘n’ roll.

Working with Gabe Simon again, so it’s fun. You know, every time we go into the studio, it’s different. Every day is different. It’s just kind of go in there blind, having a little bit of an idea of what you’re going to write, but not having a whole outlook on it. And kind of stepping back after the day of work and go like, ‘Holy sh*t that’s, you know, that’s pretty cool actually.’

And that’s bringing a lot more joy back to songwriting and being in the studio because we’re going straight from writing to recording right then. I feel like that’s how it should be, and we are having a lot of fun with it. So… I don’t know, we’ll see how it all comes out.”

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Koe appeared to be grinding in the studio at the start of the year, preparing for tours and, most importantly, becoming a father. Now that he’s on the road and fulfilling dad duties, it’s time to start rolling out new music.

Bring it on. Before you go check out a live performance of “Surrounded.”

@sabrinafromqueens will be counting down the minutes til this one’s released #koewetzel @koewetzel #nashville #workdayinmylife ♬ original sound – Sabrina from Queens

And if you want to hear more about “Surrounded” and what’s new in Koe Wetzel’s life, check out his Whiskey Riff Raff episode.

The post “Give The Listeners A Familiar Sound” – Koe Wetzel On Why He Chose “Surrounded” For His First Single Since ‘9 Lives’ first appeared on Whiskey Riff.