When Chris Young<\/a><\/strong> told himself that he was going to take a three-month hiatus following the success of his previous album, that didn\u2019t happen. Instead, the country music superstar, 40, continued to stay busy writing a collection of songs that prove his staying power with the release of his newest project, I Didn\u2019t Come Here To Leave<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Out today (Friday, Oct. 17), via<\/em> his new label home Black River Entertainment, the 14-track offering, which includes the Grammy-nominated vocalist\u2019s current single, \u201c\u2018Til The Last One Dies,\u201d marks the start of a brand-new chapter for Young following his exit from RCA Nashville.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very, very excited about this record and for a lot of reasons, mainly the level of care that\u2019s been given to this album. Not that any of my other albums in my career haven\u2019t had that same level of care, it\u2019s just that there\u2019s something special about this one,\u201d Young told Music Mayhem<\/a><\/em> and other media during a recent round-robin. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it is, it just makes me happy. I love going back and listening to it.\u201d<\/p>\n With topics ranging from love and light-hearted good times to more serious, hard-hitting subject matter, I Didn\u2019t Come Here To Leave<\/em> offers a healthy mix of heart-wrenching ballads and high-energy tracks that showcase the full raw emotional spectrum of Young\u2019s artistry. Perhaps his most personal body of work to date, the global entertainer calls the result of I Didn\u2019t Come Here To Leave<\/em> \u201ca God thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to say this, and it be taken out of context, but it is sort of a God thing,\u201d Young acknowledged of the creative process behind the album. \u201cIt was like upstairs knew I needed this music, and I was just being pushed to create it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, I\u2019m going to take January, February, and March off this year,\u201d he recalled. \u201cNope, that did not happen\u2026. It\u2019s weird. I\u2019ve been around for 20 years on record labels, but I still feel like I have more to say. This album, this new chapter\u2014it\u2019s proof of that.\u201d<\/p>\n To bring his vision to life, Young worked alongside longtime friend and collaborator Andy Sheridan to co-produce the album. Instead of big studios and tight schedules, the two went into the project with a hands-on approach.<\/p>\n \u201cI drove my gear down to his house in Antioch [Tennessee] and sang all the vocals there,\u201d Chris Young<\/a> recalls. \u201cNormally, I do three or four passes. This time, I spent a whole lot of time making sure we got it right, even if it was just one word. I\u2019d say, \u2018Let me do that again. I can do it better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI got to flex my creative muscles in a different way this time,\u201d he notes of this album in comparison to previous projects like Famous Friends<\/em>, I\u2019m Comin\u2019 Over<\/em>, and The Man I Want to Be<\/em>. But, even through a meticulous thought-process, some of the material on I Didn\u2019t Come Here To Leave<\/em> came together quickly. Such is the case with the album\u2019s title track.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wrote it in 45 minutes,\u201d Young confirmed.<\/p>\n![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/mUvLkQbGoPA\/hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
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