Chris Young has learned a lot in the almost 20 years that he’s been part of country music. After winning Nashville Star in 2006, Young released his eponymous debut album on RCA Records. It’s where Young stayed, amid highs and lows, until last year, when he moved to Black River Entertainment, releasing his latest I Didn’t Come Here To Leave record.
Young has had 14 No. 1 singles, sold millions of albums, and had sold-out crowds. He’s also had plenty of disappointments in his career, lows that he now says also helped shape him into the artist he is today.
During a recent appearance on the Takin’ a Walk podcast, when Young was asked what he has learned in his country music career, the 40-year-old says that it is that failure isn’t final.
“You can fail and still come back from it,” Young reflects. “I get that everybody knows nobody’s perfect. But I remember the very first time after I’d finally started having No. 1s, and just any hit of any kind. I had five in a row, and then the sixth song didn’t work. We didn’t even make a video for it. There was a period where I had a No. 1, and then the next song only went to 23. And it was just sort of like. ‘Okay, where am I in the landscape of music? Did I pick the wrong songs? Do I need to change up my team? Do I need to change up something about me?'”
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What Chris Young Learned From The Hard Times
Of course, Young would have liked to continue to have hit singles. But as he reflects on the hard times, Young now sees how everything was still working out for him, even if he couldn’t see it at the time.
“I remember I sat down, I had a conversation with someone, and I changed management,” Young recounts. “And I had this whole album ready to go. I had written all these songs. I was like, ‘What am I going to do with it?’ And oddly enough, that’s sort of the same situation I’m in with this project. But that project was recorded at the same studio that my record label now owns. It was at Soundstage, and Black River Entertainment owned that studio. I recorded this whole album with a friend of mine, Corey Crowder, and it was I’m Coming Over. And then I had three straight number ones again. So even if you think like, ‘Man, that last one didn’t work,’ try, try again.
“It sucks to have heard that all of your life,” he adds. “Everybody always says it to you. And you have that in your brain, and you know that it’s just a saying that everybody uses. But that’s why it sticks around as a saying. You never know.”
I’m Coming Over, out in 2015, includes the title track, which became a No.1 song. It also has the Grammy-nominated “Think Of You” duet with Cassadee Pope, plus “Sober Saturday Night,” his collaboration with Vince Gill.
Young currently has a Top 30 hit with “‘Til the Last One Dies,” his debut single from I Didn’t Come Here to Leave.
Photo Credit: John Shearer