CHANCE PEÑA Announces New EP 'Lovers to Strangers'

Recently signed to ONEprm, rising singer-songwriter Chance Peña continues to find success with his three latest tracks, “Highs and Lows,” “Bleeding Out” and current single “In My Room,” Today, he announces the July 14 release of a new EP, Lovers to Strangers, featuring “In My Room.”

This Saturday, June 17 Peña will perform at Bonnaroo Music Festival at the Who Stage at 6:30pm. He has also announced a run of dates opening for singer-songwriter David Kushner which include a sold out show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on June 19.

“In My Room,” which is featured on the upcoming EP, currently has 107.5M streams on Spotify, 13.4M streams on Apple Music, 18.4 million views on YouTube and 5 billion views on TikTok, with 2 million video creations and counting.

At only 23, Chance Peña might be one of the youngest music industry veterans you’ll ever meet – an old-soul folk singer and producer who’s been gigging and writing songs for the better part of a decade. Born and raised in Tyler, Texas, and now based in Los Angeles, Chance has been honing a sound that’s effusive, unashamedly emotional and, above all, totally honest. With his new EP Lovers To Strangers, he emerges as a deft chronicler of the trials and tribulations of romantic relationships and life as a twenty-something. 

Building on his early EPs Anxiety & Mixed Emotions and The Inevitable, Lovers To Strangers is a collection of richly-produced ballads that are equal parts rousing and heartbreaking, revealing a diamond-sharp artist moving with the utmost humility. “When my last two projects came out, to be frank, I didn’t know anything – I didn’t know what anxiety truly was,” says Chance. “After those records, I was ready to grow up, figure this life stuff out. During the last three years, I’ve learned a lot, but there’s so much that I haven’t learned.”  

At the age of 15, Chance competed on The Voice and began to both understand the contours of the music industry and fall in love with the idea of becoming a musician himself. Surrounded by fellow musicians his own age for the first time, away from the day-to-day humdrum of Tyler – “I quit the football team to be a musician,” he quips – he found within himself a hunger for the struggle and glory of professional music.

The experience also opened his eyes to how “fake” aspects of the music industry could be, and how he wanted to conduct his own career moving forward. “I realized how the industry actually works – it’s not all petals and roses and the most talented person becomes the most successful,” he says. “I learned pretty quickly that hard work pays off – it outdoes talent any day. The show showed me how fake showbusiness and Hollywood can be.” 

Shortly after leaving The Voice, Chance signed with a publishing company, and began working on music for film and TV, as well as for other artists. True to his word, Chance worked hard, and saw his talent begin to shine through just as much as his toil – evidenced by “Conversations In The Dark”, a single for John Legend’s Bigger Love that he co-wrote. “That was such a surreal moment – I have a gold record on my wall because of it,” he says. Of course, he didn’t stop to smell the roses. “I put my head down for a couple years, and wrote and learned and grew.”

All that hard work comes to bear on Lovers To Strangers, led by the massive streaming single “In My Room.” The record chronicles the coming-of-age of a wise beyond his years talent, and all the contradictions that process may entail. He uses inspiration from his own life to tell stories of relationships that carry seeds of universal truth.

The EP’s title track, a heartbreak song inspired by a rough patch in his own relationship, is defiant but totally generous in its outlook. “It’s about when someone did you wrong and you’re kind of telling them off, in a way, but in a heartfelt way,” he says.“That’s one of my core beliefs, in romantic relationships or friendships or family, or even work relationships – I’m gonna treat you the way I wanna be treated. My heart’s not fickle.” 

Lovers to Strangers announces Chance as a rare kind of songwriter, whose aim is not broad-based fame or monetary success, but human connection. “I’m ready to share this part of me, so that I can move on,” he says. “I hope that these songs help somebody – that these lessons learned can help them deal with the things in their own lives, whatever that may be. At the end of the day, when I put a song out, it’s no longer mine – it’s yours.”

UPCOMING NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:

6/17/23 - Bonnaroo Music Festival - Manchester, TN

6/19/23 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY

UPCOMING UK TOUR DATES:

7/3/23 - Gorilla @ Manchester, UK

7/4/23 - O2 Institute2 - Birmingham, UK

7/6/23 - KOKO - London, UK

7/7/23 - KOKO - London, UK

* support for David Kushner

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

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