If this is Ashley McBryde‘s new chapter, fans better get ready. The Grand Ole Opry member just released “What If We Don’t.” The song, first released on her independent 2016 Jalopies & Expensive Guitars, is from a forthcoming new album.

“We can’t avoid feeling afraid,” McBryde says of the song. “But we can make sure fear doesn’t get to make choices for us.”

When releasing “What If We Don’t,” McBryde recalled the day she wrote the career-changing tune.

“‘What If We Don’t’ came to me, Terri Jo Box, and Randall Clay sitting around a fire pit on a back porch, reminiscing on all the moments that we could’ve made a different choice and wondering if we should’ve,” McBryde shares. “It’s about the leaps of faith that you do or don’t take, and having to learn to live with those consequences either way.”

The “What If We Don’t” video is a powerful and chilling reminder not to let fear get in the way, before it’s too late. Inspired by a true story, McBryde shares flashbacks during an EMDR therapy session to help tell the story of “What If We Don’t.”

What Ashley McBryde Says About Her Next Album

McBryde recently shared a video on social media, of her listening to her next set of tunes.

“It’s a rough mix; it’s not even finished,” McBryde says through tears. “I just listened to ‘Hand Me Downs,’ and I wrote the damn thing, me and Jessie Jo [Dillon] and Laura [Veltz]. I knew what was in that song. And then I listened to it, and I kept staring at the dash, like, ‘Why would you do that to me?’ I’ve been here for every note, every syllable, every breath of this record. And I’m listening to the mixes, and it’s like I’ve never heard this record. It’s like I’ve never heard this artist.”

McBryde has yet to announce her next set of tunes. Her last album, The Devil I Know, came out in 2023.

The Lyrics to Ashley McBryde’s “What If We Don’t”

This is the part we call it a night
You get in your car and I get into mine
You’re thinking ’bout me, and I’m thinking ’bout you
We can go home alone like we always do

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
But what if we don’t?

There’s always the fear of going there now
Things getting weird if it don’t work out
This kind of thing can’t stop once it starts
We might end up breaking each other’s hearts

But what if we don’t, what if we don’t?
What if we stop fightin’ what we know we both want?
We might regret how far we let it go
But what if we don’t?

I don’t wanna overthink it
I gotta kiss you right now
Baby, I’m tired of thinking about

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
Yeah, we might regret how far we let it go
But what if we don’t?
What if we don’t?

Photo Credit: Nathan Chapman