Single Review: Scott Pryor shares powerful new single ‘Say Goodbye.’
An actor, director, military vet, and lawyer, Atlanta-based all-rounder Scott Pryor started 2024 with the surprise announcement that he’d been cooking up his debut album over the last year. His new single ‘Say Goodbye’ is a stunning achievement – full of massive hooks and showstopping vocals.
Born in Montana and raised in Wyoming, Scott Pryor’s life story sometimes feels like the American dream personified.
As a youth, Scott was a multi-state champion wrestler, winning championships throughout Montana, Wyoming, and further afield – all the while letting his competitive spirit drive him forward.
When he reached adulthood, Scott joined the Marine Corps, finding a new outlet for his restless spirit. From the Marines, he turned to academia, going to college and taking a degree in Finance and Arts before working on a Master’s in Economics and eventually heading to Law School. After leaving university, Scott started his practice in Serious Injury and Wrongful Death, always fighting for the underdog.
But the art world had always gripped Scott, meaning that as soon as he made headway in the legal world, he was already seeking to pursue his passion for filmmaking. Scott Pryor became known for writing, producing, co-directing, and acting in the acclaimed films Blackbear, The List, and Tulsa. With each of these, he took a raw view of some significant, abiding themes, including family, home, loneliness, and surviving modern America.
In recent years, Scott’s restless spirit has encouraged him to shift gears again. When Scott decided to write and record his debut album, he did so with complete certainty and earnestness about how he wanted to do it. He teamed up with producer extraordinaire and vocal coach Jan Smith (Justin Bieber, Rob Thomas, Usher), who helped him find his voice. He ensured he had a team to help him create and produce the desired songs most effectively.
After listening to Scott’s debut singles, the result is that you get a powerful sense that he’s already a polished, professional artist. ‘Say Goodbye’ is a colossus of a song that would have U2, Foo Fighters, or Imagine Dragons wondering if it hadn’t slipped out of one of their discographies and somehow made its way into Scott Pryor’s mind.
‘Say Goodbye’ is defined by its anthemic guitar riff in the introduction. The sound harkens back to the kind of delay effects that U2’s The Edge has perfected over the years (indeed, Scott has said in the past that U2 was foundational in his desire to be an artist).
This sets the scene for Scott’s voice, which somehow manages to toe the line between being rich and full-bodied and graveled and vulnerable. The lyrics are delivered with a bracing clarity, which gives them accurate weight, suggesting his unprecedented maturity as a songwriter and a singer.
This might only be his second single release, but Scott is proving at every turn that he is the real deal. Keep an eye out for his debut album this year.