Daniel Seavey Says Unreleased Why Don’t We Music Is ‘Sitting in a Folder Somewhere’ Amid Lawsuit

Daniel Seavey is free from the grasp of Why Don’t We’s legal woes — but he’s still thinking about the boy band’s songs that have never seen the light of day. In an interview with Harry Jowsey for his Boyfriend Material podcast, the pop singer shared details of how the last few months of Why Don’t We went down after being sued by their previous management company.

“Just between all the things that happened with that time and even momentum in this whole business and whatnot, it crushed it. In the end, we had made a lot of great music that’s sitting in a folder somewhere, but we just kind of were all burnt out,” said Seavey of Why Don’t We’s final days. “By the end we were like, dude, it was hard to hang in a room, even though we loved each other. The vibes were down bad.”

“We went on hiatus, and after that it kind of felt like I was worried about more than my music career, it was kind of me just trying to pick up the pieces of life because I was like, damn, these guys really put a dent in things for all of us,” Seavey explained. “It was definitely a tough couple of years. And I don’t know, it is really wild to see how good things are going now, like comparatively.”

The new comments from Seavey come as his four bandmates — Corbyn Besson, Zach Herron, Jonah Marais, and Jack Avery — stand trial against Signature Entertainment in Florida this week. Seavey was able to remove himself from the contract with Signature after declaring bankruptcy, but he has joined Why Don’t We in court as a witness.

In the interview, Seavey explained that some of the group’s legal woes spiraled after Seavey co-produced and wrote much of the group’s The Good Times and the Bad Ones, yet was forced to give credit to other people who were not as involved in the project.

“[A mixer] was claiming he produced a lot of the album, that he wrote on a lot of it… bro didn’t produce any of it, why is he a producer on it?” Seavey explained. “One text was sent and just like fire, it just exploded into this whole feud between who did what. I have the sessions, the songs on my laptop fully produced.”

“Every sound you hear on it I have it on my laptop. I don’t think anyone else can say the same,” he added. “So I have cold hard proof that I produced these things. So I just wanted what was fair, but I also was kind of like I’m fine even if I get a little taken off here and there. But the second the fight started, the mixer and our other manager just started demanding crazy splits.”

Seavey is set to become the first member of Why Don’t We to release a solo album. He drops Second Wind on March 7 after releasing an EP last year and several viral singles. He will pull from “early-aughts, pop-rock inspirations” and the album will include songs such as “Sleeping With the Lights On,” “Sunny Isles,” and “Waves.”

“For myself and for my sanity, I’m going to be so authentically me,” he told Rolling Stone in early 2023 as he kicked off his solo era. “If it hurts me, I can at least die knowing I did that for myself because I needed to.”