Cody Johnson Had A ‘Carrie Underwood Or Nobody’ Mentality When It Came To ‘I’m Gonna Love You’

When it comes to Cody Johnson’s newest single, “I’m Gonna Love You,” he admits that Carrie Underwood was always his first choice for a duet partner. In fact, if it didn’t work out with her, the song may not have been a duet at all because in his mind, it was “Carrie Underwood or nobody.”

Johnson truly brought this song full circle by bringing the American Idol alum on board. It was penned by Chris Stevens, Kelly Archer and Travis Denning and eventually found its way to Johnson, who instantly fell in love with the powerful love story and wanted to hold onto it until the moment was just right. What he didn’t realize when picking Carrie Underwood was that the song had actually been pitched to her first, but didn’t work out at the time. Learning this just further solidified Johnson’s belief that she was meant to be a part of this track. 

“I’ve loved this song for a really long time. I knew about it years and years ago through a friend of mine, one of the writers, Travis Denning,” Johnson told Country Now and other outlets. “I didn’t know that that song wound up in Carrie’s lap getting pushed back and now it was back in my lap, and I picked her. I was like, it’s Carrie Underwood or nobody. I just heard her voice. I could already hear it.”

Cody Johnson Saw The ‘Huge’ Potential Of This Song

He had initially hoped to make “I’m Gonna Love You” the first track on Leather, but with him and Underwood both having such busy schedules, it took some extra time to make it happen. Johnson now feels that it was worth the wait, as the final product is even better than he could have ever imagined it to be. 

“I wanted to kick off Leather with it, but whenever you are working with a star of Carrie’s caliber, there’s a lot of logistics that goes into that as far as timing. There was a lot of logistics just to even make sure that we could record the song period…I wanted to lead the album with it, but it just wasn’t feasible. So I’d been sitting on this the entire time going, ‘God, I just want to show the world this song.’ And the response is exactly, and I do not want this to come across arrogantly at all, it’s exactly what I imagined it would be because I know how big this song is. Before you put me on it, before you put Carrie on it, I knew that this song was huge.”

Upon the song’s September 27 debut, it instantly received a warm welcome from fans who had eagerly been awaiting its arrival. The release was paired with a stunning music video that finds the country stars diving deep into the timeless country love song’s emotional depth together while illustrating the story of a couple who promises to always be there for each other through every step of life. 

Watch The Official Music Video

Choosing The First Single For ‘Leather Deluxe Edition’

“I’m Gonna Love You” serves as the first new single off the deluxe edition of Leather. The Texas native says he chose to share this one first not only because he wanted it to be its own thing, but also because he had been keeping it under wraps for so long, he couldn’t wait another minute to put it out. Johnson goes on to explain that he envisions this song to do great things. 

“In my opinion, I feel like it’s big enough that it could even maybe be a pop crossover type song, a big iconic thing. We didn’t really know how big it was until Carrie and I sang it together in the studio and we were both like, this is a big damn song. I really feel like it’s probably going to be a big wedding song. It’s going to be one of those. I think this song could be bigger than country music in itself. It’s one of those things that it could be just like that song that Cody and Carrie did, which is really special to me because that’s what my vision was. I want it to be just its own thing.”

Reflecting On His Recent Success

It’s clear that the “Dirt Cheap” singer is incredibly proud of this song, and it’s release came at the perfect time as Johnson recently celebrated two No. 1 tracks from the the album – “Dirt Cheap” and “The Painter” – both of which also received nominations for this year’s CMA Awards. With all the success he’s seen from this project already, Cody Johnson says he’s feeling more motivated than ever to get back into the studio next year and make his next album even better. 

“I think that success is when preparation and opportunity meet, and so this is a long time coming. I’ve been doing, this year mark’s 18 years of playing music live for a living,” he shared. “I think I poured more into Leather than I have any other album, and it’s kind of encouraged me to next year when I decide to go into the studio and start again to really try to outdo Leather if it’s possible.”

Johnson continued, “As far as Leather as a whole, we had an opportunity to listen to a lot more great songs because songwriters are reaching out going, ‘Hey, I have really, really good songs. I want to give you these songs.’ And that gives me the tools to go in the studio and try to create real good country music that’s going to last and create more ripples.”

With all the excitement and success has also come plenty of challenges for Cody Johnson. While he’s been preparing for this career his whole life, no amount of No. 1’s or milestones will ever make this job easy.  

“I’ve had to deal with a lot of mental changes, really,” he admitted. “You don’t realize you’re in the thick of it until you’re in the thick of it. You have to kind of take a breath and stop and go, okay, look, you’ve been dreaming about this your whole life. You’ve worked for this your whole life. You’re prepared for it. Take a deep breath, put your head down and go to work. But this is, like I said, this is what I’ve waited on my entire life. So I’m I’m happy.”

Next Headline Tour To Launch In 2025

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The deluxe edition of his Leather album will be unveiled on November 1, adding 13 new tracks to his original 12-song track list that was unveiled last November. The expanded collection will mark his second consecutive double album, following October 2021’s project, Human. 

Cody Johnson is currently in the midst of The Leather Tour, with a few remaining dates through November. Then beginning in January, he will kick off the Leather Deluxe Tour, with stops in the US, the UK and Australia.