Here’s What HARDY Has to Say About ‘Favorite Country Song’
Backstage Country with Elaina Smith always brings fans closer to their favorite artists. For this week, that artist is none other than HARDY. During his co-hosting stint, Smith and HARDY talked…
Backstage Country with Elaina Smith always brings fans closer to their favorite artists. For this week, that artist is none other than HARDY. During his co-hosting stint, Smith and HARDY talked about his 18th career No. 1, “Favorite Country Song.”
The Story Behind 'Favorite Country Song'
HARDY says it still feels unreal to have his 18th No. 1 hit, especially considering that when he first moved to Nashville, his goal was simply to write a hit and score a single No. 1. “To be kind of pushing on 20 is crazy,” he admitted.
The ACM Awards Artist-Songwriter of the Year for 2023 also revealed that “Favorite Country Song” has taken on a life of its own, and how he knew from the start that it’s going to be big. “I knew that it was,” he admitted. “You never really know if it's going to be the single or whatever, but I knew that it was a special one. I want to say that this was the first song that I wrote for this record, because I wrote this song, I think, in 2023. It's an older song, and writing for a record takes some time, so it’s definitely had a full life cycle.”
Being a Proud Mississippian
HARDY, who hailed from Mississippi, also revealed that “Favorite Country Song” talks about “just being proud of where I'm from and there's a lot of homesick kind of vibes to it, but also just sort of sticking to your core values. I owe a lot of that to Mississippi. I definitely had a gut feeling about this one, and there's something cool about it being the sort of core of the big bang of this record, if you will.”
On Having an 'Old Song'
Since he wrote the track in 2023, Smith asked HARDY if he’s tired of listening to it. “It feels old to me, if I'm being honest,” he admitted. “I mean, I wrote it so long ago. It's only because I've heard this. I know a lot of people are hearing it for the first time, but people don't realize that songs before they come out sometimes are years old.”
He explained, “If you're the writer of it or the artist, you hear it a lot before it comes out. Then the world hears it, and then it might take 30 weeks or 50 weeks to go No. 1. So, it's another year of hearing it. I'm not tired of it by any means, but it does feel old. It feels like an old song at this point.”
If you haven’t heard the track yet, give it a listen below.
