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A church kid with a four-year-old’s guitar and a head full of melodies grows into an artist who threads love, doubt, and faith into a tight, modern pop record—this conversation with Ryan Woods brings that journey to life. We explore how God Boy is more than a title; it’s a lens for understanding infatuation, heartbreak, and the freeing moment when you accept your agency. From the shimmering rework of Loving You in the track two slot to the pulsing honesty of Gun in the Glove Box, Ryan walks us through the album’s arc and the choices that make each song land.

Ryan shares how distance shapes his writing—he waits until the storm passes so the lyric can be useful, not just cathartic. That approach gave us Garden, a tender rush of feeling after COVID-era numbness, and Good Swim, a wedding-born celebration that blooms from a slow sway into bright, percussive joy. We dig into production stories too: why he reproduced Gun in the Glove Box himself on deadline, how he and his videographer Zay built a short-form-first content strategy, and why singable guitar solos beat endless shredding. His influences are clear without being derivative—think Bruno Mars and Kevin Parker energy made in a bedroom, with arrangements that value movement and melody over length.

The heart of the episode is Ryan’s take on faith and free will. Raised religious, he’s honest about the pressure of perfection and the anxiety of feeling predestined. God Boy becomes a statement of agency: even if the plan exists, the freedom to choose is where we live and love. That philosophy meets practice when he defines success not by charts but by impact, sharing a story of a fan who walked through an ice storm to a show and said a song kept her alive. It’s a reminder that music is magic because it’s useful—something you can hold when the night is long.

Stream God Boy, queue up Garden and Gun in the Glove Box, and tell us the track that hit you hardest. If this conversation resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others find it.

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