Country superstar Chris Young officially dropped his highly-anticipated ninth studio album, Young Love & Saturday Nights, on March 22, marking his first full-length project since the release of Famous Friends back in 2021. Featuring 18 songs, including the fan-favorite tracks “Looking for You,” “Young Love & Saturday Nights,” “Right Now” and more, Young co-produced the entirety of Young Love & Saturday Nights, as well as co-wrote 15 of the project’s tunes.

During a recent discussion with Music Mayhem and other media outlets, Young detailed the behind-the-scenes scoop of Young Love & Saturday Nights, as well as reflected on how far he has come since his musical debut nearly two decades ago.

“I was 20 years old when I signed my record deal, so it’s pretty wild that I’ve been able to stay on one record label my entire career and have that long of a career, and I’m incredibly grateful to anyone that’s ever listened to my music,” the 38-year-old singer/songwriter admitted. “They’re always going to compare what you put out to earlier albums, and I just hope they like this album as much as they’ve liked Neon, you know, The Man I Want To Be… I don’t feel the weight of it, but I do have a healthy respect for the fact that I’ve been around this long, and I’ve been lucky enough to still keep doing it and putting out music that people like.”

Chris Young; Photo Courtesy of John Shearer
Chris Young; Photo Courtesy of John Shearer

Chris Young’s New Album, Young Love & Saturday Nights

As far as what Young Love & Saturday Nights actually entails, the album has been described as Young’s attempt to turn up the heat emotionally, sonically and stylistically. With each and every song hitting harder than any of his previous tunes, the Murfreesboro, Tennessee native admitted that he “wanted this album to be special,” taking more time than ever before to complete it, as well as a taking a slightly different approach overall.

“I think the biggest thing for me was I wanted this album to be special,” he prefaced, prior to delving into the details. “I had a lot of time to work on this record — even though patience is not my strong suit, you guys have known me long enough to know that that is the truth — so I sort of decided, ‘Hey, let’s change things up a little bit.’”

The country crooner continued, “There are songs on here that I didn’t write, there are songs on here that I co-wrote, there are songs that I produced by myself, there are songs that I produced with my friends, and I really was just trying to find a lot of things that I wanted to say. There’s the love songs and the sexy songs, but there’s also party songs, and there’s a song about my dad and about my dog, and I think I just was trying to pour out a little more of myself on this record that I haven’t really delved into before.”

Chris Young 'Young Love & Saturday Nights' Album Art
Chris Young ‘Young Love & Saturday Nights’ Album Art

“The biggest album I’ve ever made”

Coming in with a whopping 18 songs, not only is Young Love & Saturday Nights arguably the most unique album to come from Chris Young, but it is also the largest, followed shortly by Famous Friends.

“This is a big album. Yeah, it’s the biggest album I’ve ever made,” he revealed to Music Mayhem and other media. “I guess it’s a double album. I don’t know if it is or not, but it’s pretty wild seeing that and knowing that I’ve got enough stuff to make three more albums right now in my phone. It’s just wild. I hope everybody enjoys the fact that I’ve put out that much music. I know it’s a lot for people to listen through, but I hope that’s a positive.”

Young Love & Saturday Nights Track List

1. “Looking for You”
2. “All Dogs Go to Heaven”
3. “Young Love & Saturday Nights”
4. “Don’t Call Me”
5. “What She Sees in Me”
6. “Country Boy’s Prayer”
7. “Double Down”
8. “Call It a Day”
9. “Drink to Remember”
10. “Don’t Stop Now”
11.” Fall Out”
12. “Fire”
13. “Gettin’ Older”
14. “Right Now”
15. “Million Miles”
16. “Everybody Grew Up”
17. “Knee Deep in Neon”
18. “Down”

Chris Young; Photo Courtesy of John Shearer
Chris Young; Photo Courtesy of John Shearer

Young Co-Wrote 15 of the 18 songs, as well as Co-produced The Project

As mentioned, Young was extremely hands-on when it comes to the creation of Young Love & Saturday Nights, co-writing 15 of the 18 songs, as well as co-producing the album as a whole. According to the Grand Ole Opry member, this involvement in his 9th studio album “means the world,” sharing what it was like to put on his producer hat for this project in particular.

“I’ve been producing my albums for like the past eight years, and I guess I just haven’t been loud enough about it,” Young admitted, revealing that he has previously co-produced his projects on numerous occasions. “I think maybe everybody thought I just put my name on it, because I’m not going to say that anyone’s done that before, but yeah, there are some things that I did on this record that I produced solo. I was also lucky enough to co-produce some stuff with Corey Crowder and co-produce some stuff with Chris DeStefano, and then obviously “Young Love & Saturday Nights” the three of us did together, which to me is sort of like a full circle moment, because Corey and I have worked together and me and DeStefano have worked together.”

“The fact that all three of us got to work on that song and that’s the title track of the record and the new single just is perfect,” he concluded with a beaming smile.

Three outside cuts: “Young Love & Saturday Nights,” “Double Down” and “Gettin’ Older”

As far as writing goes, Young had a hand in writing almost every song on the record, except for “Young Love & Saturday Nights,” “Double Down” and “Gettin’ Older.” When asked how he typically chooses whether or not an outside cut makes its way onto one of his albums, the 38-year-old admitted that “the biggest thing for me is that I look at that song, I listened to it, and I’m like, ‘Dang, I wish I wrote that.’”

He then proceeded to talk about all three outside cuts: “Obviously, ‘Double Down’ is just a fun party song that I wish I’d written. When you look at ‘Gettin’ Older,’ I wanted to write a song for my dad, and I attempted it a couple of times and just couldn’t get it right. It was good, but it wasn’t great, and then Dave Fenley actually played me that song, and I was just like, ‘Gimme! Come on!’ And then ‘Young Love & Saturday Nights,’ I mean, what else is there to say? That’s just a hit, and I wish I’d been involved in writing that one, but even though I wasn’t, I still love it.”

Chris Young’s Young Love & Saturday Nights Tour

Aside from the release of Young Love & Saturday Nights, Young will be embarking on a tour to accompany the album, beginning on April 25 in Tulsa, OK and ending on May 18 in Albuquerque, NM.

“New album and new tour, let’s go! Join me on the road this spring for the Young Love & Saturday Nights Tour with my friend @bryanmartinmusic 🤘 Tickets go on-sale Friday, January 12th at 10am local time. Tag a friend you’re bringing along! See y’all out there! #YLSNTour,” the multi-faceted performer shared via Instagram upon the announcement of the tour.

As mentioned in the Instagram post, the tour will feature support from a rising country star named Brian Martin, who Young describes as “just an incredibly talented guy [and] a super nice guy.” Needless to say, each and every show is certain to be nothing short of sensational.

Chris Young’s Young Love & Saturday Nights Tour Dates

April

25 – Tulsa, OK at River Spirit Casino Resort
26 – Fort Worth, TX at Billy Bob’s Texas
27 – Fort Worth, TX at Billy Bob’s Texas

May

2 – Toledo, OH at Huntington Center
3 – Columbus, OH at KEMBA Live!
4 – Pittsburgh, PA at Stage AE
9 – Rama, ON at Casino Rama
10 – Cleveland, OH at Jacobs Pavilion
11 – Indianapolis, IN at Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
17 – Maricopa, AZ at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino
18 – Albuquerque, NM at Boots In The Park

Supporting Kane Brown’s In The Air Tour in Seattle, Washington

To follow his Young Love & Saturday Nights Tour, Chris Young — as well as LOCASH and RaeLynn — will open for Kane Brown on his headlining In The Air Tour in Seattle, WA on August 16, something that the country superstar is “very much looking forward to.”

“I am very much looking forward to that show with KB, you know, he opened for me on my tour, and the fact that I get a chance to not return the favor, but to have the other side of things and hang out with him, I just love,” he gushed. “No one could be more happy for his success than me, so I was like, ‘Yeah!’ I don’t do many of those where I open anymore, but yeah, I’ll do that one.”

Kane Brown & Chris Young; Photo Courtesy of CMT
Kane Brown & Chris Young; Photo Courtesy of CMT

For updates regarding his upcoming performances, country music lovers can connect with Chris Young on social media. In the meantime, Young Love & Saturday Nights is available to stream on all platforms now.

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Originally from Southern California and currently residing in Music City, Melanie graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism before beginning her career as a music and entertainment journalist. Beginning to write for Music Mayhem in August of 2023, she has also contributed to Holler, Country Now, Country Chord, Celeb Secrets, Celeb Secrets Country, We Got This Covered and Decider throughout her career thus far. When she is not writing, Melanie enjoys going to concerts and music festivals, binging her favorite television shows, spending time with her friends and family and cheering on the Oklahoma Sooners (of course).

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