The Nashville hitmaker sings about romance in his most mature, rocking album yet.
Modern country music has grown increasingly brash about subjects such as cut-off jeans on girls, partying by the lake, catching fish, and chugging whiskey. And while many of the most bombastic songs on the radio these days may be crude, not many seem to discuss sex in a no-nonsense, adult manner, instead opting for sophomoric, sexist generalities. At 30 years of age, Chris Young, now an established, bankable veteran with a handful of No. 1 Billboard Country hits, isn’t afraid to broach the subject without stooping to sloppy clichés or childish extremes.
On Young’s upcoming album, I’m Comin’ Over (November 13, RCA Nashville), several songs take a direct route to the bedroom. True, it has some songs that cover other familiar thematic territory in more lyrically familiar ways. Nonetheless, it is refreshing to hear an artist get right to the point about a certain type of driving passion. The sultry title track, a Gold-selling single thanks in large part to a video that’s just as steamy, is no doubt a statement song for Young. It says he’s a grown man with adult desires and a talent for getting that message across in a rather catchy manner.
“We wanted to be direct in that it’s a sexy song,” he says by phone as he drives around Nashville on a rare day off before his world tour resumes. “And when it came to the video, if we didn’t approach it from a mature, sexy angle, I feel like it would’ve been a cop-out, so we really went for it. I’ve had songs like this before, to a point, but they’ve been more playful, where this song is more direct in what it’s about.”
For the album’s closing tune, “What If I Stay,” Young keeps up the sensual imagery, though he does slow things down a touch from the anthemic power that surges through most of the preceding tunes.
“I wanted something with a laid-back, slap groove to it,” Young says. “I wanted it to have a laid-back feel and have some something simple to end the record with, and it also has that sexy side to it, which really goes along with much of the record.”
With past albums, Young has arguably mixed in neo-traditional sounds more prominently. I’m Comin’ Over, though, sounds much more modern. For the first time, he wrote most of the songs and served as co-producer. He and his co-producer, Corey Crowder, made a point to go for a “more progressive style” than what’s been heard from him before.
Young has more than 500,000 reasons to believe this record will be his biggest commercial success yet. The lead single was his fastest yet to attain Gold status, and it’s hard to imagine the album not shooting out of the sales gates as fans snap it up with the lusty fervor Young sings so much about. And he’s ready to see what comes of this passion project.
“I have my fingers crossed that it will be a big week for us,” Young says eagerly, looking ahead to the album’s release date. “Taking nothing away from anything I’ve done before, this album is really special to me, and I want to make sure it has a great first week, and I’m going to work really hard to make that happen.”
Chris Young’s new single, “I’m Comin’ Over,” is available for download on iTunes.
