Chris Young and Shaylen are sharing new details of their “One Of Us” duet. The song, part of Young’s forthcoming deluxe version of I Didn’t Come Here To Leave, is out now.
“Our new song, ‘One of Us,’ kind of came across in a completely organic way,” Young says in a video shared on social media. “I know that gets said a lot, when you’re talking about how a duet occurs. But we wrote this song, and one of the co-writers on there with me, Ty Graham, who is a good friend. Great writer, great artist. He goes, ‘I know exactly who you need to send this to.’ I sent it to [Shaylen]. I’m like, ‘I don’t know if she’s going to like this or not.’ And it’s just the demo; we just got it done.”
“I was like, ‘This is a hit. That’s cool,'” Shaylen continues. “Also, me singing alongside [Young], if it was just that, and it was only ever just the demo that lived on my phone, that was the coolest day of my life.”
“One Of Us” is written by Young, Graham, Andy Sheridan, and Ray Fulcher. The song says in part, “One of us is movin’ on, one of us is breakin’ down / One of us is partyin’ their way through downtown / One of us is fine, one of us is broken / One of us is replayin’ words unspoken / Looks like you’re fallin’ all the way out of love / That makes one of us.”
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What Chris Young Says About ‘I Didn’t Come Here To Leave (Deluxe)’
In addition to “One Of Us,” other songs on I Didn’t Come Here To Leave (Deluxe) include “Wedding Band,” a song about someone who got away, and “If You’re Lucky,” the latter a collaboration with Breland. Young and Breland wrote “If You’re Lucky” with Matt McVarney five years ago.
“When we wrote it, I don’t think we originally intended on having both of us on it, but when I listened again for the Deluxe record, I knew it needed us both,” Young says. “Our voices complement each other and the track.”
News of the deluxe album comes as Young announces he is releasing the title track as his next single.
“I just had a lot of fun with this song,” Young says, speaking of “I Didn’t Come Here To Leave.”“And I also thought it was a statement of sort of where I’m at in my career, which is weird because if you think about my age compared to some other people that got started, at least on a label, much later than me. They’re older than me, so it’s very interesting to look at it. But I think that being around for 20 years on record labels, I think that’s indicative of that. And it’s sort of me just looking at everybody going, ‘I still have more to say.’”