INTERVIEW: Brett Young on Debut Album Song Meanings

With a few successful singles and an EP under his belt, Brett Young is releasing his debut full-length self-titled album (Feb. 10). Brett Young showcases twelve songs, and features singles like "In Case You Didn't Know" and "Sleep Without You," which hit No. 2 on the US Country Airplay chart and No. 3 on the US Hot Country Songs chart.

The 35-year-old singer/songwriter tells us that the making of his debut album was "fun and really stressful," and that he had to "pick from every song [he's] ever written" -- which he explains is around 400. He says, it's "awesome because you can be as honest as you want, and you can tell the stories that you want to tell, but also it's kinda nerve racking because there are so many songs to choose from." He adds, "I think that the dynamic of the record, and the versatility of the record turned out just right."

[Pre-order Brett Young on iTunes]

Brett is currently touring across the country to promote the album until the fall, but before you hear his songs live, discover the meaning behind them.

We recently caught up with Brett, and during an exclusive interview, the Orange County, California-born country singer/songwriter revealed the meaning behind each track on his debut record. He explained what each song is about, what inspired them, and how they came to be.

[RELATED - INTERVIEW: Brett Young On Dating & The Perfect Date]

Check out our interview with Brett Young where he breaks down the meaning behind his songs on his self-titled album below:

Track 1: "Sleep Without You"

"'Sleep Without You' was a fun one for me because I got to kind of relate my parents' relationship to the song. They've been married 37 years, and my dad's still sad that mom's out of town for the weekend. It's hard for him to sleep in their bed. I thought that probably was like a more universal thing than just couples that have been married for 37. I think in dating relationships, you're used to a text or a phone call goodnight, and when you can't have it for whatever reason, you get this crazy anxiety. So I thought, 'Man, everybody could probably relate to that.' It's fun to watch people connect with that song."

Track 2: "Close Enough"

"'Close Enough' I also wrote with Jimmy Robbins and John Mack. I had my time wrong for the write that day, so I showed up when I thought the write was, and it was a half hour later than when they started. They had a concept, and they had the hook, but just the words 'close enough' and the melody to it. I walked in, and heard them singing this. I said, 'What is that? We have to write that!' Because I think every record needs to have that one ear worm that, whether you like it or not, gets stuck in your head. And it was stuck in my head from the second I heard it. So we made it as sweet as we could. And basically it's that I don't care if you're sitting right next to me, that's not close enough. It's a fun one, and we open almost every show with that."

Track 3: "Like I Loved You"

"'Like I Loved You' started from a conversation about when people during a breakup say, 'I really hope we can still be friends.' Because I feel like most people [who] that say that don't mean it, but there are some people that mean it. But regardless of whether or not it's genuine, the person hearing it is never ready to hear that during a breakup."

Track 4: "In Case You Didn't Know"

"'In Case You Didn't Know' is a very down the middle love song/wedding song, I think. Our idea came from a funny place, because one of the writers in the rooms' mom always used to say to him. But for us, the second we started writing, it was the realization that men are really bad at being sweet, and also have the best intentions, so we try all the time anyways. And there comes all these moments where I think guys go, 'maybe I need to remind her.' And so that was the whole 'In Case You Didn't Know Thing.' And it's fun to have it turn out to be kinda like a wedding song."

Track 5: "Olivia Mae"

"Two years ago, before I signed my deal, we had put out an independent record, and we were gonna shoot some music videos for it. So we were casting females for the video, and we cast this girl named Olivia Mae. A month before we even shot it .... I never met the girl but I had this song idea, just to play on the words Mae, M-A-E. I just had this idea for a play on words, and I took it to Ben Caver, and I said, 'I've always wanted to write a song like 'Don't Take the Girl' that spans time the way that that did.' And he said, 'Well, let's do 'Olivia Mae,' and let's span some time.' At the beginning of the song he's meeting this girl, and at the end of the song he's marrying this girl, and the whole time doing a play on words with Olivia Mae. It's one of my favorite songs on the record. I'm so happy that it made it."

FYI, Olivia knows there is a song written about her: 

"We shot that music video, and I was able to play her the demo, and be like, 'I hope this isn't creepy that a stranger wrote a song about you.' I texted her recently and said, 'Hey, that made the record. It's coming out.' She's a friend. She's really cool. She's excited about it."

Track 6: "Left Side of Leavin'"

"'Left Side of Leavin'' was an idea that I had called 'Front side of Freedom' originally. I brought it to a couple writers, and I said that, and they're like, 'Oh we love that.' And then one of them, Jimmy Robbins said, "Yeah, it could be like Front side of Freedom, and it could be like Left Side of Leavin'.' And I looked at the other writer, Jon Nite in the room, and I was like, 'Left Side of Leavin' is better than 'Front side of Freedom.' So we just wanted to write a song about breaking up with somebody, and then being shocked at how good they're doing the next day. And I think everybody can kinda relate to that."

Track 7: "You Ain't Here to Kiss Me"

"'You Ain't Here to Kiss Me' is a song about a six-year relationship that I ended on New Years Eve. That one was fun to write just because there was no embellishment at all. We just told exactly the story the way that it went down. I think New Years Eve and Valentines Day -- there's a handful of holidays that people develop really high expectations, and then it's easy to be let down. And I think telling that story, letting people know it's something I lived through is a good way to connect with an audience."

Track 8: "Back on the Wagon"

"'Back on the Wagon' I actually wrote on the company retreat last year. I think everybody's had that ex that they can't really shake. And we were talking about that, and came up with the correlation between addiction; to a substance, and addiction to a person. And that's one of my favorite ones. I've never really had that ex, but for some reason that concept is so powerful to me because I think most people have, and so that one always kinda grabs me. I think it's gonna be interesting to watch how many people can relate that to their own story."

Track 9: "Makin' Me Say"

"'Makin' Me Say' is the only song on the record that I didn't write. But when I heard it ... I think that men have really good intentions, and we're bad at saying it sometimes. Other than telling your girl that she's sexy, I've never really come up with another way to say that. And I heard this song, and I was like, Everything he's talking about, they're everyday things. They're you putting on your high heels, you putting on your makeup. But he's basically saying everything that you do ever day is sexy. And when I heard it, not only did it sonically feel a little different than anything else on the record, which I thought we needed, but also I was just like, these guys were geniuses. They said everything perfect. I have to have this song. It's really fun to play live, it's got a cool groove it to it, and I think it's one of those things, hopefully, that every woman wants said to them."

Track 10: "Memory Won't Let Me"

"It's basically like trying to move on from somebody, and realizing that they've got their hooks in you still. But that's not always a bad thing. I know a lot of stories of people that have gone back to that person and been really happy. But I do think everybody has that one person that regardless how things end, they're always in the back of your mind."

Track 11: "Beautiful Believer"

"The first week I was in Nashville, it was three years ago, I got invited to a number one for David Nail with a song called 'Whatever She's Got,' and the writers were Jon Nite and Jimmy Robbins -- the guys I wrote 'Left Side of Leavin'' with, but I didn't know them at the time. And Jon Nite got up and told his story. Basically him and his wife were 18 years old, their first child was already 18 months old, and they moved to Nashville so he could write songs. And he said he just kept trying to get other jobs besides songwriting to pay the bills, and then every time he would do that his wife would say, 'No, no, no. If we're gonna be poor, we're gonna be poor, but you moved here to write songs and that's what you're gonna do.' And so that day I think he was getting his 11th number one, and he gave her all the credit and called her his 'Beautiful Believer,' and so I knew I had to write that story."

Track 12: "Mercy"

"'Mercy' was my first write with Sean McConnell, who I'm such a big fan of. I showed up, and they didn't have a room for us, so we ended up writing outdoors on a rooftop. We were at the point with the record where every write I went into we were saying, 'We need tempo. We need uptempo songs.' And anybody that knows Sean will appreciate that he was like, 'Eh, let's just write the song on the roof.' He didn't care. Some people are all about making sure they write the right song to get on the record. He just wanted to write the best song we could write that day. And we started talking, and 15 minutes into the conversation I said the word 'mercy,' but [it] was just in conversation, and he goes, 'Boom. Song title. Love it.' And uh, if you ever listen to his records, he can write heartbreak like crazy, and that's kinda my background. So we sat down, and in about 45 minutes we wrote this song that is gonna be the ballad that closes out the record. I've never really written a song hoping that it hurts people's feelings a little bit, but I hope this gets to people the way that it gets to me, because it's really sad, but it's really beautiful, and it's honest."

Watch Brett perform songs from his self-titled album live below!

"Sleep Without You"

"In Case You Didn't Know"

"Let's Get It On" (Marvin Gaye Cover)

"You Ain't Here To Kiss Me"

"Left Side of Leavin'"

"Close Enough"