Love at First Listen with Antonio Larosa and Taylor-Rae

Individually, Antonio Larosa and Taylor-Rae are two powerhouse singer-songwriters racking up breakthrough artist recognitions for their stunning vocals, heartfelt lyrics, and captivating stage presence. Together, they’re hitting all the right notes as country’s newest dynamic duo and blessing us with an emotional duet that just received the Grand Ole Opry radio (WSM Radio) stamp of approval.

On “Hearts Don’t Break,” Antonio and Taylor-Rae’s infectious country-rock voices come together to tell the story of two people clinging to what’s left of a relationship long past saving. The relationship at the heart of the single may not be worth saving, but the song definitely is. Below, Antonio and Taylor-Rae share more with us about the song’s organic roots, their relationship advice, and what’s next.

Tell us about the story behind “Hearts Don’t Break” and how you two met.

Antonio: I saw Taylor perform at the BC Country Music Association Awards and was completely blown away by her vocals and her talent. I approached her [at the] after party and I said, “Do you want to sing a song with me? You know, do a duet for the karaoke?” We did “Islands in the Stream” (by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton) and she just killed it, and I thought, man, we have a nice synergy with our voices. Earlier this year, I wanted to go on tour and hit some spots in Alberta, and I was trying to think about who I could bring on tour with me. I thought, oh perfect — Taylor-Rae. You know, she’s born and raised in Alberta. She’s a killer singer. I was like, “I’d love to open up some shows for you and do some shows in Alberta,” and she was completely on board. And yeah, then Taylor, we kind of just started working together, and then we decided to write a song, right?

Taylor-Rae: Yeah. Antonio had mentioned that he thought it’d be cool if we had a song to sing together. We got talking about like, “Do we do a cover? Do we do an original?” We ended up calling up our buddy Dave Boris, who’s an amazing writer from Vancouver as well, and this song came together super quickly and organically. We decided to do it acoustically on tour and it was like the rest of our shows didn’t happen. Everybody coming up was just like, “That duet, that duet!” We’re like, we did play 60 minutes of other music too! So, we figured we might as well record it and see if we can get anything going there because, yeah, I think our voices go fairly well together. And Antonio is such an incredible vocalist, so I was so excited to actually be able to team up on something with him.

Are there any differences between the tour version and the studio recording?

Taylor-Rae: Definitely. When we were playing it live, we were just getting comfortable with it. I mean, we hadn’t sang it together until the night before tour, so it was all new to us. And then getting into the studio with it, it’s always nice because it gives you more time to experiment and we worked with the [production duo] The Renaissance out in Vancouver as well, and they’re just so good with ideas and being like, “Just let it fly and see what comes out.” So, this studio version is even more of who we both are as artists, where before we were playing the song, and we loved the song and how we sang it, but it didn’t necessarily have our own little twists on it in each of our parts. So, I think the recording now is almost more true to who we are.

Given the build-up to the song’s release, was that New Music Friday one of excitement, stress, anticipation, or a mix of all three?

Antonio: Release days are always kind of stressful. I try and do, like, everything but look at my phone on release days. But this time around, I was just absolutely so happy to see all the ads and playlist adds and all the people engaging and stuff like that. It was really nice [then] and till this day now to see so many people resonating with the song. I feel like it’s getting a nice bit of momentum.

Taylor-Rae: I think it’s always nerve wracking going in because if you’re in Nashville, 11pm hits and you’re like, okay, where’s the song? How’s it doing? What’s going on? It’s just, you kind of have no chill. But my sister got married [that] weekend, so we released on Friday and I [was] helping set up the venue [and] sneaking peeks at my phone. I’m like, how are we doing?! But it was awesome. It’s nice to do it with somebody else because then you’re kind of in the same boat versus kind of being on this little release island by yourself.

 

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This is a tough one, but what would be your advice for anyone listening who finds themselves in a situation like the couple in the song – keep fighting or let go and make room for new love?

Antonio: I don’t know everyone’s situation obviously, but the best advice I can give with a lot of things is trust your gut. You know, if you feel a certain way, and it’s not going away, something’s telling you [that] you[‘ve] got to do something. It’s never easy to make moves or decisions and make changes in life — and that’s probably what people are most afraid of, is change. So, I feel like in anything, even if it’s not a relationship, sometimes it’s hard to pull that band-aid, but you have to do it at some point.

Taylor-Rae: “Trust your gut” is so true, and sometimes things feel lighter once you’re out of them. I think a lot of times we get so caught up in the habit of being with somebody or being in a situation, whether it could be work [or] it could be literally anything that if it’s not working, but you’re so used to it, you just end up staying, but the second you get out, you’re like, I can breathe again. When we wrote the song, it was something that I was like, this is very relatable. I feel like myself, including a lot of others, know that same feeling.

This collab will definitely lead to some crossover in your fanbases. What is your favourite track of each other’s that made you excited to work together?

Antonio: “Drunk Plans” is one of my favourites. Like, I love that song. “Are You Still Up?” is [also] awesome. I love those and the one you just put out, “Heaven Right Now.” I love Taylor’s tunes, man. She just rocks the crap out of them. They’re so good.

Taylor-Rae: For Antonio, the first song that really put me onto his music was “Hard Days.” It’s like, I don’t know what it is. Especially seeing you play it live every single time, I’m running around everybody like, “This is the song!” It’s just so good. I think it’s so representative of you and it’s just got such a vibe to it. I feel like your music is just like, [it] kind of wraps you up in a vibe, which is why I love seeing you play live so much.

Can each of you also highlight your latest releases and anything you can tease for the rest of the year?

Antonio: I just put out a tune in July called “Turn Me Loose” and, by my amazement, it’s been hitting the line dancing community like crazy, like all over the world, which is just nuts. I might be having a little Christmas tune coming too.

Taylor-Rae: I put out a four-song EP over this past year [and] I literally loved putting out every single song because there were so many little personality parts in each of them, so the marketing of it was always very fun. But probably one of my favourites of the year was a song called “Heaven Right Now.” I think it’s very representative of where I felt like I was at musically, and at first I was kind of gunning for validation almost. With this project, I’m like, just do exactly what you feel like you need to do and write the way you want to write. Get back to why you started doing music. So, continuing on that same vein, I’m getting back in the studio in December and we’ll be turning out a bunch of new songs. I’m leaning towards a breakup project. One day there will be a love song, but not yet.

Maybe in 2026!

Taylor-Rae: Working on it!

To wrap up, as people are listening to the song (hopefully on repeat), is there anything that you want them to keep in mind or take away from it?

Antonio: Listen to it in a nice, dark room with some candles lit. I think really pay attention to the voices and the message, and that’ll really hit you right in the heart and I think you’ll get the tune.

Taylor-Rae: For us making it, we just had such a blend of both of our genres in the song. So, just listening to it and enjoy[ing] it for what it is I think is kind of the cool part about this one.

Thank you, Antonio and Taylor-Rae! “Hearts Don’t Break” is out now. Follow Antonio and Taylor-Rae on Instagram for more.

See you back here soon with another artist and music release for you to love at first listen! Have a suggestion or pitch? You know where to find us!

Happy listening xx