Chris Young has released two new tracks ahead of his yet-to-be-announced upcoming album. The first of the two, “Looking For You,” is a romantic mid-tempo song that paints a picture of a person experiencing love at first sight.
“Looking For You”
Written by Young with frequent collaborators Chris DeStefano, James McNair, and Emily Weisband, “Looking For You” subtly blends the singer/songwriter’s jazz background with country to create a hypnotizing mix that listeners are bound to enjoy at first listen.
“I was looking more single every single weekend / Looking for a feeling to get my heart beating / Looking for an up all night long / The right kiss, right song / Looking for a sunrise leading to a sunset / Looking for someone I can spend it with / Then it came around right out of the blue / Yea it turns out / Oh, I was looking for you / Yeah, I was looking for you,” Young sings throughout the chorus of the song, which is set to hit country radio on January 23.
Lyrically, Young says he didn’t necessarily draw from personal experience but came from “a place of sometimes you’re looking for love and can’t find it.”
“This [song] actually just came from a place of sometimes you’re looking for love and can’t find it. Then, sometimes, you’re like, ‘I give up, and it just smacks you in the face like a freight train out of nowhere,’” Young said during an interview with Music Mayhem and other media. “I think a lot of people have been through that before where they see somebody walk in, even if they weren’t looking for or not looking for, they just find someone, and it’s like, this is perfect. So that was kind of the genesis of the idea of this song.”
“I’ll just be blunt. I didn’t write this about anybody,” he continued. “That being said, I’ve been in this situation before where I was just like, ‘I’m just going to be single.’ And then somebody walks in with a friend of a friend, and I’m just like, ‘holy crap, who is that? Who is she?’ That a thousand percent has happened to me before.… I will say that, yeah, there are times where a relationship or a situation I’ve been in influenced my songs. And I think that’s important because it comes from a place of realism. I can sing it and mean it.”
Along with “Looking For You,” Young debuted the accompanying video for the track. Directed by Peter Zavadil, this action-packed clip finds Young playing a semi-heroic role as he comes to the aid of a woman who appears to be running away from a pair of criminals. As he gets to know the female character, he starts to fall in love with her.
On a side note, Young’s 2015 Dodge Challenger, which appears in the music video for his triple-platinum 2015 smash, “I’m Comin’ Over,” is also featured in the “Looking For You” clip. Young recently celebrated the seventh anniversary of the No. 1 hit, tweeting out, “7 years ago this week, ‘I’m Comin’ Over’ went #1 on Country Radio! Crazy to think about the journey since then…THANK YOU for being a part of it!”
7 years ago this week, I’m Comin’ Over went #1 on Country Radio! Crazy to think about the journey since then…THANK YOU for being a part of it! pic.twitter.com/n3UdCIRHJd
— ChrisYoungMusic (@ChrisYoungMusic) November 30, 2022
“All Dogs Go To Heaven”
Young’s second offering to coincide with “Looking For You,” “All Dogs Go To Heaven,” is, in contrast, ultra-personal. Written by Young with Corey Crowder and Cale Dodds, “All Dogs Go To Heaven” is an ode to one of Young’s best friends – his dog, Porter.
“This one is special. “All Dogs Go To Heaven” drops this Friday! Pre-save: https://cy.lnk.to/2packpre,” Young tweeted out ahead of its release, sharing an adorable photo of him holding his German Shepherd in his arms.
This one is special. "All Dogs Go To Heaven" drops this Friday!
Pre-save: https://t.co/HUYiy866Z5 pic.twitter.com/60JnnH42JU
— ChrisYoungMusic (@ChrisYoungMusic) January 12, 2023
“I met this dog when he was a baked potato-sized animal. He weighs 115 pounds. I love this dog,” Young revealed of the 5-year-old purebred. “He was a Christmas present from my little sister (Dot). He was a surprise. And he is now a 115-pound tank of a German Shepherd.”
“I think just regardless of whether you have big dogs, small dogs, whatever pets of any kind, you can get the point of ‘All Dogs Go To Heaven’ because it’s probably not going to outlive us,” Young added. “So I think everybody doesn’t want to think about that, but that’s going to be something you’re going to have to deal with at some point. And it’s just the idea of, they’ll be waiting on you when you get up there.”
@chrisyoungmusic Nothing quite like the experience of playing at @bluebirdcafetn… So I thought why not play “All Dogs Go To Heaven” for the first time. #alldogsgotoheaven #goldenretriever #goldendoodle #germanshepherd #dogsoftiktok #dogs
Leading up to the release of his two new tracks, Young says he spent much of his Christmas break preparing for his next album in writing sessions and the studio.
“I normally take December off, and I’m regretting that I didn’t because I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m a little worn out.’ But all that stuff is done, and I’m so proud of this music. I’m like, ‘Well, huh. Now, we’re in the lead a little bit,” Young shared.
Both New Songs Will Appear On A Forthcoming New Album
He also added that although he has already racked up countless hits, “All Dogs Go To Heaven” and “Looking For You” are his favorite, so far.
“I just think ‘All Dogs Go To Heaven’ is one of my favorites because it’s just different. It’s nothing I’ve done before. And on the other side of the coin, ‘Looking For You’ is a love song. That’s one of the things that helped make me who I am as an artist, sort of my bread and butter. If you actually look at the number of hits I’ve had and how many of ’em are love related. And it’s also a different way to say, ‘I love you,’” he explains.
At this point, Young is ahead of the game, meaning he could technically drop his album at any point in the future. He has not shared a release date on the album yet, but he does promise more content that fans can look out for in the coming days.
“There may or may not have been something I’ve already filmed a video for that is also on this record that will maybe be debuted before the album drops. That’s really cool. So I’m in that place where I’m ready to go and just happy and excited,” Young said of what’s to come ahead of the project, which will follow his 2021’s Famous Friends album.
He continued, “So basically with Famous Friends as an album as a whole, I kind of leaned all the way into having people collaborate with me on songs and just be a part of the record. With this one, I’m probably not going to do that. There may be one that I’m looking at right now, but I’ve got my record pretty much done. I could drop a record tomorrow if I wanted to. And actually if I were to need to drop multiple videos, I’d already filmed videos for several of the songs. I’ve already done the entire photo shoot. I’ve already done all that stuff.”
