‘The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart’: How Chris Watson, Bri Stauss Produced Debut Album Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (Exclusive)

Christoper Watson and Bri Stauss experienced a lot of firsts through their experience on The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart. First, the couple became the premiere winners of the special six-episode season that made its debut in April. With the couple each having a background in music like their co-stars, upon winning the ABC competition, they also recorded their debut album — all while doing so in yet another first of theirs.

Amid the growing concerns of the coronavirus pandemic rattling the country and world, the two had to find a way around recording their album while not being with one another to keep the show’s result a secret until the finale that occurred last Monday. So the pair resorted to producing all five of their original songs on their self-titled album through FaceTime and Zoom meetings. Speaking exclusively with PopCulture.com, Watson called the experience a bit challenging due to the unforeseen circumstances but said he wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything else. “Working over Zoom and FaceTime is the least ideal way to work over music,” he explained to PopCulture. “I don’t ever want to do it again, but I will if I have to. It was definitely a challenge because some things that could be done in the studio in 15 minutes take two days because you’re going back and forth over emails.”

Nonetheless, Watson said it was “awesome” to go through with it even under less than ideal circumstances. Their album dropped shortly after the results of the finale, and two received their final roses. From there on, the record quickly rose to the top of the charts, finding itself inside the Top 5 on the iTunes Music store. Stauss admitted she was stunned at seeing how fast everything went. “I did not [expect it] at all,” she said. “We honestly didn’t know what to expect, so to climb that fast was shocking.” Watson was pleased with the results, sharing that the two just wanted to put together music that they liked and songs that they hoped the fans would like, too. “To see the response we have has just been incredible,” he reiterated.

As for the other first they experienced, becoming the first winners of the newest installment of The Bachelor franchise and going through that journey was indeed a blessing for the pair. “It was really amazing to go on a show that had never done before,” Stauss explained. “I like doing things like that in my life because there’s no expectations… you get to write your own story.” She added that she hopes her and Watson’s experience can bring hope to others looking to join the show because now everyone can see that “it’s possible for this to work.”