There’s no doubt that Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood’s duet, “I’m Gonna Love You” has been one of the biggest collaborations in the genre this year. Garnering over 11 million streams on Spotify alone, the track is currently sitting at #13 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Though it seemed like a no-brainer to have Johnson and Underwood together on a track, the “Dirt Cheap” singer revealed on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen that the song wasn’t an immediate success initially after recording it for the first time.
Beginning their discussion on “I’m Gonna Love You,” Johnson explained Underwood’s two parameters for the song, “Carrie said two things, ‘I don’t do is love songs and low register.’ So when we were tracking it, I called her and she was listening, and I’m like, ‘Do we need to go step up? Do we need to go step down as far as key? Are you good with the production, tempo and all this? So she kind of signed off on it, and I was like, all right, cool.”
Johnson then noted how Underwood recorded her vocals after he had recorded his, and it simply didn’t feel right to the pair, “It wasn’t a look of disappointment on her face, but it was just like ‘Hm?’ I’m sitting there like, ‘For me, it doesn’t have that thing either.'”
The dissatisfaction led Underwood to suggest that they sing it live in the studio, which ended up being exactly what the song needed. The “‘Til You Can’t” singer described the live recording as “organic” and noted that the live recording led to the incredible adlibs that you hear strewn throughout the song:
“We went in opposite sides of the glass, and we sang it live. That’s what’s on the record. That’s what you’re hearing is one take live, I swear to God. The cool part was sitting there singing. I could see her when she’s gonna breathe, and she’s watching me. So that part in the bridge, that’s completely adlibbed. We’re sitting there being able to look at each other and going, ‘You’re gonna go? Alright, I’m gonna go with you.’ It was so organic. It was like singing in church.”
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