‘The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart’: Chris and Bri Breakdown Their 5 Original Songs on Debut Album (Exclusive)

For the first time, The Bachelor has franchise steered away from its usual course, installing a never-before-seen ‘Listen To Your Heart’ dynamic that saw one happy couple in Chris Watson and Bri Stauss win not just through the love they built, but through their music. On Monday’s finale of the special six-episode season, the judges chose Chris and Bri as the winners over Trevor and Jamie, making them the first-ever couple to win this Bachelor meets American Idol competition hosted by Chris Harrison.

As a result, the two were ecstatic to share their debut album, fittingly called “Chris & Bri,” minutes after the two received their final roses. Shortly thereafter, the 10-track album quickly rose the charts into the Top 10 and even getting inside the Top 5 on iTunes, and is now available on Spotify and to download in the Apple Music Store.

The two spoke with Pop Culture and provided even more insight with what went into each of their five original songs and what their favorite of the five songs they performed on the show was.

Found You

The first track on the album definitely is a true love song. The couple went into it wanting to showcase their fairytale of a love story and did just that with “Found You.” Bri said she has heard from multiple fans that this could be a wedding song and she said that’s exactly what they were going for. She calls this song “really special” for that reason.

Chris added that “our love story was and is such a fairy tale so we wanted a song that really capture those feels but at the same time it just really cuts to the heart.” He went on to say, “When two people are in that scenario [searching for love] there are just feelings there you can’t describe. We wanted to show how grateful we were finding something that was so real.”

360

This is Bri’s “personal favorite” on the album, calling it a “wild and fun” song. “We really wanted to get into a more of a rapping vibe where it’s just free and fun,” Bri explained, noting that she feels that they accomplished that goal with this song. Making it all the more fun was that they got to incorporate some different styles of theirs, which was something Bri said she enjoyed. 

Chris was in agreement, feeling that the song has a different feel than the others. “We definitely wanted to showcase how our love is and how we each were separately going on a positive trajectory with our life and with our music but then we meet each other and it’s been a whole 360, we’re going in the same place but now it’s just that much better.”

I Do (Tell Em)

This one ties right in with the show with the results coming a few months before the show even aired, but to keep things a secret, everything was embargoed, meaning the couple never got to share with the world their love for each other until this week. Bri said this was the first song they wrote on the album, which happened over FaceTime due to the coronavirus, so this will always be “our baby” according to the two. “It was very open and honest,” Bri said. “We just wanted to communicate how we were feeling in that moment.”

Chris said that reliving the experience with each episode that aired but not being with one another was no easy task, saying that reliving the highs and the lows was a challenge. “We couldn’t see each other and tell the world what we were going through so it’s like fighting anxiety of wanting to tell the world,” said Chris. They turned that experience into a song and sort of their way of expressing the emotions that went into those few months of holding everything back. 

Your Touch

As Bri said, this is a song that just shares all the “free and fun elements that come with love.” When figuring out how to go about it, they asked themselves what made the other different, and it kept coming back to all the emotions and foresight that comes whenever they touch one another.

“From the first time we touched, the first time we held hands to the first time we kissed, we knew and felt it wasn’t the same as holding someone else’s hand,” Chris explained. “So we just kind of wanted to write it down.” The two said “there were so many things” to share here, but that “we get reassured we have trust, we see our future, we see how everyone was in our past led to this.” Chris said that “it all boils down to your touch” and that ultimately, as he put it best, “when I feel you, everything just kind of fades away.”

Heart Open

The fifth and final original on the album, “Heart Open” talks about the hardships every person has experienced at some point when it comes to love but that in the end, when you find that right person, all of those tough times prove to have been worth it. “That one we really wanted to get down the raw side of relationships and the hardships you experience along the way but also bring an element of hope,” Bri explained. “To not be focused on those hardships and how finding each other makes all of those hardships worth it. That one was very sweet and hopeful.”

Chris describes it as an “anti-breakup song” in the uplifting message it delivers. “When you’re broken up and still upset about it, it’s because you still want to be with that person or that you want to be loved or be in love,” Chris shared. “We’ve acknowledged those fears while being with each other so I think that it was really good to put that into a song.”

The Five Songs From The Show

Tracks 6-10 on the album are all of the songs that the couple performed on the show. This includes “Beyond” by Leon Bridges and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. There’s also the two’s personal favorite, “Lover” by Taylor Swift” which is the seventh song on the album. Being a huge fan of hers, Bri was ecstatic to get the chance to cover one of the newest singles by the mega-pop star.

“That performance was very us,” Bri said. “We were in our element. Everyone knows I’m obsessed with Taylor Swift, but that aside, we both felt very comfortable and the words really were us.” Chris was in agreement, saying it was a “fun” song to perform on stage, as well. He did add that the couple’s finale songs, “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran and Adele’s Make You Feel my Love,” hold a special meaning. “We got to share these words with each other and we really just had so much at the end of the show. It was the end of everything… it was a celebration.”