We are all really good friends, and it’s just easy to write with them, because we would hang out anyway if we weren’t writing, so it’s nice. It’s just, like, “Oh, hey, do you wanna write a song today?” “Sure!” “Cool!”. Originally, the thought was the way the song is now, but then I didn’t wanna be that vulnerable. I was like, “How about we do it where I’m the heartbreaker? That’s more accurate.” And they were like, “Can’t you be vulnerable for two seconds?” So I was like, “Fiiiine.” I thought, “This was my original idea, so I should probably just stick with it and not make it something that it’s not.

–via TheBoot (July 2019)

I remember the first day I had this concept, it just came to me because I think it was around the holidays and the person I was seeing, I was like, I’m not really sure if I want to introduce him to my family yet. Because there are so many of us and we’re all really close. So I remember having that thought of, if we ended up not being together, my family like really latches on and I was like I need to write about this ‘cause I don’t know how to process this emotion right now. And so I wrote it down on my phone and was messing around with some chorus ideas for it first and then brought it into the studio with two of my closest friends that are also songwriters. The line, “more hearts than mine,” was the title that I originally thought about, because I was like, “Oh, it would technically break six other people’s hearts and not just mine.” In fact, I probably wouldn’t even be that shook up over it. So, that was the first line of the whole idea. Then it all kind of just built from there. And we kind of just started chipping away at it.

As far as the instrumental, I like to start everything on piano. So that’s kind of how it started, but then we would all trade instruments and somebody else can go to the piano and somebody would be at the guitar and we were just kind of trying to get the vibe right. Because a lot of country music is on guitar. But I don’t play guitar. I played a little bit like four chords and the truth. And that’s about it. So piano is like a really important thing to me. If it sounds good on just the piano, then it’s a good song. Then normally, with a song like this, it does take me a couple of days, but because I already had the idea and the whole story was there, it was really easy. We knocked it out so quick. Recording the demo vocal, that took the longest, because I kept tearing up and I hate crying in front of people. So, I was like, “Maybe I could sing this later.” They’re like, “No, I’ll sing it now.” We need the emotion. I’m like, “No,” but I’m glad I ended up singing it. Writing the song definitely did help me process those emotions. It made my situation awkward, though, because that person that I was dating had not met my parents yet. So, it was this weird time. I was like, “The song is amazing, it’s coming out but don’t get offended.” But, they ended up meeting my parents, so it all worked out in the end, but for a while there it was really awkward.