A lot has changed for Chris Young in the last 19 years. After winning Nashville Star in 2006, Young signed with RCA Records, where he remained until recently, when he signed with Black River Entertainment.
Young’s latest record, I Didn’t Come Here To Leave, was released last month. The project, his first on his new label, includes his current “‘Til the Last One Dies” single.
“I think this record, everybody always says, ‘Oh, this is the favorite record I’ve made.’ because they’re trying to push it,” Young tells Audacy. “But for me, with this record specifically, I really do think we made something that, as a whole project, is really, really special.”
Young wrote all but three songs on I Didn’t Come Here To Leave. It’s a record he is completely thrilled with, perhaps for the first time in his career.
“There are meaningful songs on here,” Young boasts. “There are meaningful songs to me. There are meaningful songs about my family members that are on here. It’s very open, very straightforward, very honest as a project. A lot of people say, ‘Art’s never finished, it’s abandoned.’ I feel like this project was completed.”
I Didn’t Come Here to Leave is Young’s tenth studio album. He can now look back and laugh about the early years, when he was struggling to make ends meet.
“Well, in 2006, I’m pretty sure I overdrafted on Taco Bell twice,” Young says of the biggest changes between the beginning of his career and now. “Just to have money in the bank. That would be a big part of it, but more specifically, just that I know there are songs that people have used in their weddings.”
Chris Young Looks Ahead After the Release of ‘I Didn’t Come Here To Leave’
In addition to releasing I Didn’t Come Here To Leave, Young also just dropped two new Christmas songs, both “Christmas Ain’t Christmas,” plus his version of “Silver Bells.” The songs come as he just kicked off his It Must Be Christmas – An Acoustic Evening with Chris Young Tour. He hints that he may have another new record out next year, this one of his holday favorites.
“We were looking at even doing an entire Christmas album, and I was like, ‘Let’s wait,’” Young tells ABC. “‘Let’s hold that until next year. We can do so much stuff at one time. Let’s do one thing at a time.”
Young is also excited for what will happen with I Didn’t Come Here To Leave, as “‘Til the Last One Dies” hits the Top 30.
“People knowing the new songs more,” Young says of what he is looking forward to in the future.. “I’ve lived with them for multiple years at this point. So just knowing that they’re out there, people have a chance to listen to them. Get to have their favorite, and sort of see what that looks like on streams, what people are posting on socials, and go, ‘Okay, well this is the song that people want next, after this one.’ I think that’s always a fun thing for me.”
Photo Credit: Black River Entertainment