When it comes to responding to fans, Jessie James Decker does just that. Earlier this year, the country singer delivered when her TikTok followers begged her to release “Grow Young With You” – a song that puts a fun and uplifting perspective on aging while in a relationship.
Fans’ requests for Decker to record a full version of the uptempo earworm came after the star teased the tune on the social media platform, encouraging folks to use the song to share their own love stories.
@jessiejamesdecker Love getting to #growyoungwithyou ❤️ Let me see yours!!! 😍 #country #countrymusic #newmusic #trending #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryourpage
Looking back at the positive responses she received after teasing the viral song online, Decker says she is still surprised to find out how much other people related to the track, which includes the lyrics, “We’re getting better with time, we’re forever in our prime / Baby, I can’t wait to grow young with you.”
“I thought it was so sweet and I was surprised,” the mom of three and wife to former Jets’ wide receiver Eric Decker, told Music Mayhem. “I didn’t think they were going to see it that way ’cause I didn’t plan on putting that song out. But as soon as it took off, I felt like I owed it to my fans that loved it to put it out for them to have. So I’m glad that we did that. But you never know if things are going to take off [or] not, and you never know how or why, but that’s what the beauty of social media now is. You can test things out and see what people are feeling.”
In October, Decker followed up “Grow Young With You” with “I Still Love You” – a collaboration with Billy Currington that is bound to take country radio by storm. The dreamy duet, written by Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins, and Matt Dragstrem, sat for over a year before its release. But, Decker says she was waiting for the perfect time to drop the tune, which marks her second collaborative effort with Currington.
“Billy is one of my best friends from just a million years ago, and we’ve always loved making music together,” Decker explained while opening up about her latest track with the country star. “We have the same taste in our voices. We’ve always [been] known to sound really good together. He had me sing on his record years ago, and I just felt like it was time and we wanted to do another [song] together.”
Decker said while looking for the next duet, “I Still Love You” fell into her lap initially as a solo.
“I had the song pitched to me from my publishing company, Big Yellow Dog. And, it was initially pitched to me for just, like, singing it by myself. But then the publisher, the Plugger, who had pitched it, was like, ‘I always heard this as a duet,’ which got my wheels turning,” she shared. “I sent it to Billy, and he immediately wrote [me] back. We cut it at the top of 2020. Then, obviously, COVID happened. So we decided to wait until we could really promote it and give it our best. So we just put it out at the end of October. It’s streaming so well for us that I think, we’re going to go to radio at the top of this year with it.”
“I Still Love You” follows Decker and Currington’s first collaboration, “Good Night,” which appears on Currington’s 2015 Summer Forever album. Both “I Still Love You” and Decker’s “Grow Young With You,” penned by Emily Wesiband and Alysa Vanderheym, are tentatively planned to be featured on a full-length project in the future.
“That is definitely the plan. I’m getting back into the studio the first few months of next year,” Decker says. “I’ve taken off, so I can focus on making more music as much as possible. So that is the goal. And, we’ve got a bunch of studio time cleared out for that.”
Additionally, Decker will soon serve as the Powerball Correspondent and will reveal the first-ever First Powerball Millionaire of the Year during the live broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest early Sunday morning (Jan. 1).
