Scotty McCreery captivated an entire stadium while performing at CMA Fest. The talented singer ran through a few of his many hits, including his first No. 1 single “Five More Minutes.”

Local news station WKRN captured part of McCreery’s magical moment, a song that continues to resonate with fans eight years after it was released.

 

“Five More Minutes” is on McCreery’s forthcoming new Seasons Change: Platinum Edition album. It’s a project he is releasing as a way to thank his fans, many who have been with him since his time on American Idol in 2011.

“I think it was somebody on my team who said, ‘Hey, Seasons Change is coming up on being platinum,’” McCreery recalls on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen, sharing the inspiration behind the record. “It just kind of went from there. I made this record at a time when I had no clue if my songs were ever going to be on the radio, or being streamed again, if anybody would care. I didn’t have a label deal when I was writing a lot of these songs.

“So it was a big deal for me to get this out there for people to relate to these songs,” he continues. “To take them into their lives, and use ‘Five More Minutes’ as they’re moving on from high school or college, or losing a loved one, or ‘This Is It’ as they’re walking down the aisle. So for me, it changed my life. And to know that it touched people, and they felt it too, it’s something that we just wanted to give them back to, and say thank you to them.”

“Five More Minutes” also became McCreery’s first of six consecutive No. 1 singles, an even more impressive feat since he released the song on his own.

“I still think that was probably the biggest moment in my career,” McCreery told CMT‘s Cody Alan of the success of “Five More Minutes.” “I mean, Idol was so big, and it gets your face out there, your name out there a lot. But that was a TV deal. I grew up wanting to be a music star, and having songs on the radio. I never quite got that first No. 1. ‘Five More Minutes,’ a song that was so personal to me, being that first No. 1, to me was just huge.”

McCreery has another massive hit at radio right now. He just released “Bottle Rockets,” a song with Hootie & the Blowfish.

“We had a lot of songs started going into that retreat, but this song came out of a conversation,” McCreery says on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen. “I. “This was us reminiscing on previous summers, like ‘I remember my last summer of no job, no responsibilities and school was out. That was such a fun summer.’ And for me in the Carolinas, and I think for everybody worldwide, Hootie & the Blowfish were huge. It was just talking about those soundtracks of summer. I forget who played into it first, but the chords were kind of matching, and we were like, ‘Man, that’s kind of cool,’ so we just ran with it.”

Seasons Change: Platinum Edition will be out on June 20. The project includes all of the songs on McCreery’s 2018 album, plus four bonus acoustic tracks. Find all of McCreery’s music and upcoming shows at ScottyMcCreery.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of CMA / Jamie Schramm