Florida Georgia Line singer Tyler Hubbard is stepping outside of the superstar country duo for an upcoming collaboration with Tim McGraw. Hubbard and McGraw join musical forces on a song titled “Undivided,” which is set for release on Jan. 13.
Hubbard co-wrote the song with Chris Loocke during a time of introspection while he was quarantined on his bus in November of 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19. Hubbard says he was reflecting on his ability to judge too quickly and thinking of the values he was raised with, looking to his faith for guidance, when he got the idea for a song that would offer a positive message in difficult times.
The lyrics to “Undivided” present an optimistic plea for a country that has been wracked by divisions over pandemic response, a bitterly contested election season, social unrest and more, making 2020 one of the most difficult years in recent history for many.
“I think it’s time to come together / You and I can make a change / Maybe we can make a difference / Make the world a better place / Look around and love somebody / We’ve been hateful long enough / Let the good Lord reunite us / ‘Til this country that we love’s undivided,” the lyrics state.
“I knew immediately when I finished it, I had to text it to Tim. He has a way of communicating with the world that is unique in music,” Hubbard says in a press release. “For him to want to perform with me was an amazing feeling. The song is about coming together, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Hubbard and McGraw co-produced the track alongside Corey Crowder and Byron Gallimore, and McGraw is thrilled with the results.
“Music gives us hope and brings us together in a way nothing else can. This doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do. Quite the opposite,” he states. “I loved the positivity of this song and that it called me to check myself and to remember that love is bigger. It’s why I knew this song had to be my next single with Tyler as soon as he sent it to me.”
“Undivided” is set to drop on Jan. 13, accompanied by a music video. The song will also be included on the upcoming deluxe edition of McGraw’s most recent No. 1 hit album, Here on Earth, which is slated for release in the spring. “Undivided” is currently available for pre-order across a wide variety of digital music providers.
The news of the new song comes just days after Hubbard and his FGL partner Brian Kelley posted a New Year’s Day video to announce that each of them will release solo music in 2021. Kelley has been working on a collection of solo tracks that he estimates he’ll release by the summer, while Hubbard has been working on a few collaborations with different artists. The collaboration with McGraw is the first he’s revealed publicly, and it’s not clear whether he intends to release his solo music in a larger collection or simply as a series of singles.
Hubbard and Kelley were careful to emphasize that recent rumors of Florida Georgia Line breaking up are not true. They are slated to release their fifth studio album, Life Rolls On, in February, and they say they’ve been holding some dates for 2021 in hopes that they’ll be able to return to the road.
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