Though Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd didn't co-write "Chasing After You," the CMA (Country Music Association) award-nominated song mirrors the married couple's feelings about their gradual transition from songwriting pals to romantic partners.
"It really reminds Ryan and I of the beginning of our relationship," Morris told Billboard after the song's Feb. 2021 release. "It wasn't the easiest road for us to come together. We were in separate relationships when we met. We kind of grew a love out of a friendship over many years before we were out of those other relationships and could finally be together after some time. I think it reminds us of falling in love with each other and not being able to really act on it yet."
"Chasing After You" becoming the couple's first duet feels like it was predestined when tracing the backstory of the Brinley Addington and Jerry Flowers co-write.
"It was held by tons of other artists that are much more successful than me. For some reason, it never worked out with the other people who loved it too," Hurd told Billboard. "When you find a song that you realize is a unicorn, very unique and special, and that you realize you can't write anything better, It was something I always wanted an opportunity to release."
Read More: 'Never Go to Bed Mad': Luke Bryan Shares Key to 14-Year Marriage to Wife Caroline
The Aaron Eshuis and Teddy Reimer produced single excelled by pretty much every measurement. Billboard chart-wise, the song cracked the Country Airplay Top 10 and the Hot Country Songs' Top 5 and earned crossover cred by reaching a respectable No. 27 on the all-genre Hot 100. On the industry event front, Morris and Hurd performed the song live back in the spring at the ACM Awards. Its official music video is in the running at the CMA Awards on Nov. 10 for Music Video of the Year. Beyond all that, it's a certified platinum release that's made it on quite a few tastemaking playlists.
A married duo cracking country's Top 10 has been a rarer feat over the past 20 years than you might suspect. As The Boot reports, Morris and Hurd are just the third pairing to pull it off since 2001, joining the group Thompson Square and of course Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
"Chasing After You" is a single from Hurd's debut solo album Pelago, which arrives on Oct. 15.
Morris and Hurd wed in March 2018, two years before the March 2020 birth of their son, Hayes.
