This Week’s Backstage Country Host: Brett Young

Brett Young is stepping behind the mic for a weeklong takeover of Backstage Country from June 16 to 20, and this time he’s bringing more than just his buttery voice. He’s teaming up with the one and only Elaina Smith for a week full of stories, and laughs.  

Let’s be honest: if country music had a designated heartthrob in charge of soundtracking your love life, it would be Young. Whether you’re falling in love or falling apart, he’s got you covered. 

Smith asked Young how the collaboration with McFarland happened and why he thought it’s time to rerelease his hit song “In Case You Didn’t Know.” Young admitted that he had a “weird moment” after years of people coming to him during shows or reaching out on social media to tell him the song was their wedding song.

He shared, “This weird thought came to my head. This song is about men being bad at expressing their feelings. But there's dudes out there getting married on a regular basis and women that are not just marrying them, but staying with them. It must not be as big of a deal as we think it is as men because we can all admit that we're really bad at express[ing] our feelings and I thought the only way to really understand. How we're still landing these wonderful women if we're really so bad at this is to go get the woman's perspective on it.” 

Young admitted he’s a fan of Hannah McFarland: “I want her voice on this song, but also, let's not get the same guys back in the room to write the woman take on it, like that's not the take we want. We want, we need to get Hannah in here and help us write this and get the real woman's perspective on what the other side of the story is. She came in; she's such a great writer as well. We got to the bottom of what it might be that men are actually doing. That's enough to keep you all coming back for more. She helped us get there and then she landed her beautiful vocals on it. It's something that I think turned out great and I'm really proud of.” 

Before the duet version with McFarland drops, give the original a listen one more time. 

Tune in to Backstage Country from June 16–20 with Brett Young, because in case you didn’t know… this week is going to be GOOD.