In November of 2020, Florida Georgia Line member Tyler Hubbard was living on his tour bus, which was parked in his driveway, quarantined from his family after testing positive for COVID-19. Reflecting on the values he was raised with, his faith and people’s tendency to judge others too quickly sparked the idea for a song that would offer a positive message in difficult times.
Inspired, Hubbard co-wrote “Undivided” with Chris Loocke, and when they were done, he quickly thought of Tim McGraw. The two and Hubbard’s duo partner Brian Kelley had previously collaborated on the hit “May We All,” so Hubbard sent the demo to McGraw, who tells Taste of Country Nights he was driving back to Nashville after visiting his daughters in California. He pulled over at a Montana gas station to listen.
Hubbard and McGraw co-produced “Undivided” with Corey Crowder and Byron Gallimore. Below, they share the story behind the song in their own words.
Tyler Hubbard: I wrote this song and immediately thought of Tim McGraw. We had such a great time with FGL’s “May We All,” we felt like this was the next chapter.
Tim McGraw: The reason I got excited about this song — you know, we have an album out and music out and everything, but when a song comes along and somebody like Tyler, who’s a good friend of mine and who I think’s a really good person, sends over a song that’s so timely and feels like sort of a bomb that we sort of need on our world right now, it’s pretty much a no-brainer to just to step in and raise your hand and say, “Yeah, I’ll do it.”
Hubbard: At this time in history, it just feels like this song is perfectly speaking to our world and what we all need right now. And what we need to hear personally, you know? It’s also an accountability thing for us: It’s, “Hey, if we’re gonna sing this and this is our message, we’ve gotta live up to this.” We’ve gotta look around and love people; we’ve gotta let God be in control and lead us.
McGraw: It hit me right in the heart, you know? It just sort of made me sort of reevaluate my approach to what’s going on in the world and [think]: Was I letting the darkness lead me to be not as cheerful and bright and happy as I need to be to bring positive energy to me family? So, it was more of an internal thing, to me, when I heard the song …
Tyler and I worked on “Undivided” together in the studio: We went in one evening and spent just about the entire evening together, just working on the song and working out parts and who was gonna do what and where the harmonies were gonna be, and I tell you, it was a lot of good, creative energy, and we felt like it was a lot of good will that was going on when we were laying this song down.
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