From “If I Die Young” to Their First Song in Nine Years, The Band Perry Begin a New Chapter

After nine years away, The Band Perry are officially back. And if you ask Kimberly Perry, it's not a reunion. It's a rebirth.

The Grammy-winning group, best known for era defining hits like "If I Die Young" and "Better Dig Two," has returned with a brand new single, "Psychological." Kimberly and her other half musically and in life, Johnny Costello, are referring to this chapter as "season two."

"It feels amazing to be back," Kimberly said, laughing at how wild it sounds to say they've been gone nearly a decade. "The nine year thing... I always raises my eyebrows at that. It feels like it's just been a day."

This version of The Band Perry looks a little different. The band is now Kimberly and her husband, Johnny Costello, who has officially joined her in the group.

“We’ve always been a family band since day one,” she explained. “This time, my baby daddy husband is in the band with me.”

The couple has been writing and recording together in Nashville, working with legendary producer Dan Huff. For Kimberly, creating this project alongside her husband has made the process feel especially meaningful. “It’s been such a sweet season writing a project together and exploring this as a couple,” she said.

After years of writing and listening to material, Kimberly said "Psychological" struck the perfect balance between where the band has been and where country music is headed.

“If you love OG The Band Perry as much as I do, you’re going to find that in ‘Psychological,’” she said. “And if you love what country music is in 2026, I feel like this song sits perfectly there, too.”

The track leans into the emotional intensity fans have come to expect from her writing. Kimberly described it as another entry in what she jokingly calls her "psycho girl love song" catalog. The hook says it all: “Boy, you make going psycho logical.”

“I’ve always believed there’s a super fine line between devotion and delusion,” she said. “When I fall in love, I’m all in. The first night I met Johnny, I remember telling him, 'I’m working really hard not to say I love you right now.’"

That full-throttle devotion fuels the song's narrator, and it's a perspective Kimberly proudly owns.

“We can call it psycho if we want,” she said. “I’ll wear that badge proudly when it comes to love.”

One of the biggest surprises on "Psychological" came in the studio. Kimberly initially wanted the song to open with a banjo. Producer Dan Huff had other plans.

“He put his foot down about it being piano-driven,” she said. “He was insistent.”

The result is something The Band Perry has never done before: a 6/8 time signature. In other words, a waltz.

“You can waltz to ‘Psychological,’” she said, admitting she’s now grateful Huff pushed her in that direction. “We’ve never really cut anything driven by piano like that.”

It's impossible to talk about The Band Perry without mentioning their mega-hit "If I Die Young," which recently reached diamond certification. When Kimberly wrote the song alone years ago, she had no way of knowing what it would become.

“I just tried to be available for it to come,” she said. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

She's watched it evolve through TikTok trends, parodies, and even her own sequel, "If I Die Young Part 2," which she released during her solo chapter. But when The Band Perry performs life, it's the original version that still hits the hardest.

“It changes my life every night when the crowd sings it back,” she said. “It’s bigger than us.”

Season two also comes with a new title for Kimberly and Johnny: parents. They both laughed when asked about how that's changed their creative process.

“Time management,” Johnny said. “When we see people without kids, we’re like, ‘What do you do with all that time?’”

Instead of endless studio days, their writing sessions now happen after bedtime. Kimberly calls it “songwrite and chill.”

“We’ll put the baby to bed, pour a glass of wine, and write a chorus,” she said. “It’s our date night.”

The limitation has actually made them more efficient. Ideas live in voice memos until there’s a window to chase them. And when that window opens, they move quickly.

For fans pressing play on "Psychological," Kimberly hopes the connection is immediate.

“I hope you feel that girl you used to sing along with when she was singing ‘If I Die Young’ and ‘Better Dig Two,’” she said. “Here she is again, with another psycho girl love song.”

Season Two of The Band Perry is here. And if “Psychological” is any indication, they didn’t just pick up where they left off. They came back stronger.