Video and song arrive Jan 13th at country radio and DSPs
When friends talk music and those friends happen to be two music icons – three-time Grammy winner and CMA Entertainer of the Year Tim McGraw and myriad American Music Award, Academy of Country Music and CMA Award winner of superstar duo Florida Georgia Line Tyler Hubbard – the result is “Undivided.” The upbeat and heartfelt collaboration arrives January 13th at country radio and all streaming services, along with an official behind-the-scenes music video of the two friends in the studio. The song will be included on the deluxe version of McGraw’s No. 1 album Here On Earth, out later this spring on Big Machine Records.
Co-written by Hubbard & Chris Loocke, “Undivided” came out of Hubbard’s time spent soul-searching on his bus while waiting out a positive COVID-19 quarantine. In that space, examining his own ability to judge too quickly, he considered the values he was raised with and looked to his faith for guidance and inspiration. But rather than writing a somber song, the process brought him to a place of hope, and he dug into his roots for a song that sparkled with a beat and positivity.
“Music gives us hope and brings us together in a way nothing else can. This doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do. Quite the opposite,” McGraw explains. “I loved the positivity of this song and that it called me to check myself and to remember that love is bigger. It’s why I knew this song had to be my next single with Tyler as soon as he sent it to me.”
“I knew immediately when I finished it, I had to text it to Tim. He has a way of communicating with the world that is unique in music,” Hubbard said of the feel-good song and collaboration. “For him to want to perform with me was an amazing feeling. The song is about coming together, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Produced by Corey Crowder, Hubbard, McGraw and Byron Gallimore, the banjo and acoustic guitar driven track creates a perfect space for McGraw’s gift as a voice of not just wisdom, but living and learning, to pair with Hubbard’s wide-open rural truths and phased vocals.
The track comes as Hubbard and FGL partner Brian Kelley announced they will be releasing solo projects. The pair shared the news via a New Year’s video on social media.
“We’re about to drop the rest of our fifth album. And in the midst of all that, we’ve also got to work on some stuff individually. We just try be really transparent and real with you guys,” Hubbard shares. “You guys as our fans have changed our lives and we’re forever grateful. In the meantime, it’s a beautiful place to be to be able to venture out and have a voice of our own and have an individuality. We’ve always been a package deal, but I think there’s freedom in this time to be able to not always be a package deal. I have a strong peace about the next journey, the next chapter. Just to clarify, FGL’s not breaking up. We’re just venturing out.”
“Having some extra time this year — being in a pandemic year and a lot of uncertainty and a lot of extra time being down here in Florida with Brittney and the dogs — I did a lot of soul searching, man. And I took some time off of writing songs. I didn’t know what I was searching for, and kind of where I landed was really falling in love with my guitar and writing songs again. Even more than ever, man,” adds Kelley. “And nobody knows this, but it’s been a lifelong dream of mine, and I feel like I started writing an album once I stared writing again. A couple songs that I felt like, ’I’m supposed to sing these.’ It really created this freedom for ourselves in addition to what we do with FGL. That was cool navigating through what that looks like. Having (Hubbard’s) blessing means everything and it really completes the whole perspective of my life. There’s nothing more important for everyone to honor your life’s calling.”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=414399639766195
