We all know Ashley McBryde can sing anything, including an 80s Pat Benatar hit. McBryde recently posted a video of her singing an acoustic cover of “We Belong”. The song was first released by Benatar in 1984, on Benatar’s Tropico record.

McBryde reveals on social media that she channeled this hit when recording her current single, “What If We Don’t,” a song McBryde loves to perform

“When I wrote ‘What If We Don’t,’ I was chasing the feeling I get when I sing this chorus,” McBryde says.

 

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The Story Behind Ashley McBryde’s Current Single, ‘What If We Don’t’

“What If We Don’t” is from McBryde’s forthcoming new album, Wild. Written by McBryde, Terri Jo Box, and Randall Clay back in 2015, the three thought of Benatar when writing “What If We Don’t.”

“I love the things that were represented sonically at the time,” McBryde tells Billboard. “But I didn’t have my Pat Benatar that I could turn to.”

“What If We Don’t” says, “What if we don’t? What if we don’t? / What if we stop fighting what we know we both want? / We might regret how far we let it go / What if we don’t?”

“That moment of making the decision to take the risk or not take the risk, is immediately followed up by, ‘Wow, I get to live with these consequences,’ no matter what they are,'” McBryde says.

When releasing “What If We Don’t,” the Arkansas native expounded on the message in the thought-provoking song.

“For me, this song brings about being at peace with answers you’ll never get,” McBryde says. “And whether you chose to do this or that, the other decision, the one that you didn’t make, you still live with those consequences. Things that hurt don’t just stay. Things that hurt turn into a lyric. The lyric turns into a melody. The melody turns into a song. The song goes on a record. And now, we have created a bridge from hurt to heal. And it did it for us to write it, and it did it for us as a band to record it. And now it gets to do that for other people when they listen to it.”

What Ashley McBryde Says About Her New Album, ‘Wild’

“What If We Don’t” is just one of 11 songs on Wild that McBryde is eager to share with the world, including  “Arkansas Mud,” “Bottle Told Me So,” and more.

“When you make the record, from making the record to releasing the record is a year, sometimes more,” McBryde explains. “So if you can think about living life every day and doing shows every night while holding your breath a little bit, and then when the record comes out, you go, ‘Finally,’ and you can put all of the songs into the show that you’ve been wanting to put into the show.”

“Maybe it feels sort of like, you know when you watch videos of like kindergarten graduations? How happy everyone is?” the 42-year-old adds. “It’s a little bit similar to that feeling.”

Wild will be out on May 8.