Daily Discovery: Kids In America Jump All-In on “DIVE”

Anyone can walk to a diving board and leap off into a new world. That’s the idea behind Kids In America’s newest single, “DIVE,” which also features the band, Magic Giant. Anyone can do it, but will you? For the bicoastal duo, based in Southern California and New York, sometimes, even if you feel apprehensive, you need to step on that board, close your eyes, and jump. That’s how life can be lived.

“It’s okay to dive into the deep end with someone,” the band tells American Songwriter. “Sometimes you need to leap before you look. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and reckless for love.”

While the track asks the listener to just go for it, the sounds and feelings around the message are bright and inviting. Big horns and gang vocals treat and entreat. That was the intention of the group all along.

“We really wanted to write something that felt like a euphoric and romantic ‘summer song,’” the band says. “When the melodies and structure came together, we immediately envisioned a feature with the band, Magic Giant.”

The new single, which includes a handful of contributors, also began in a songwriting session with the artist, John Gomez, who is the guitarist in the popular Los Angeles band, Twin XL. As many great songs are, this one was a group effort.

“It was truly a collaboration and landed on the idea we were always hoping for,” Kids In America says. “In a lot of ways, this song is a perfect representation of what our band is all about—new collaboration.”

Indeed, the band says that what its members truly love most about the catchy tune is the journey it took to arrive at it. It’s representative of their own journeys, which, the two members say, both began with musical fathers who encouraged their sons to believe they could be artists full time. Similarly, for the band’s new song, it all started in one place and evolved into another.

“Dive,” which was first an intimate folk song, turned, with the help of some musical friends, into a pop song, ending with a festival-like chorus: We never stay quiet through our favorite sings, voices ring out in unison.

“It’s a very simple idea,” the band says, “but it captures the excitement of a specific moment. It feels lived in.”