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.”