Accidentally On Purpose

The title track of The Shires third album, "Accidentally On Purpose" was inspired by a romantic fling that co-vocalist Chrissie Rhodes had with a guy she met at a party thrown by Ed Sheeran. She started talking to bandmate Ben Earle about her dilemma of whether to stay on in the city to keep the relationship afloat and he started typing. "Basically, everything she was saying was a lyric and I had this title Accidentally On Purpose," he explained to The Sun. "I said to Crissie, 'Are you saying you might accidentally on purpose miss your flight?'" Crissie added: "I accidentally stayed a bit too long. I did miss my flight but the relationship fizzled out. I didn't want another transatlantic relationship anyway."

Ben Earle and Chrissie Rhodes wrote the song with Jimmy Robbins, who also has credits on recordings by Blake Shelton and Lady Antebellum.

The Shires duo settled on the Accidentally On Purpose album title during Christmas 2017. Ben Earle explained to HMV.com: "I was on holiday in Australia and we were talking about titles when we could make the time difference work, it just came up in talking about it. For us, it really sums up the last five years. We had a dream of going full-time with music, but this is so, so far beyond any expectations we had. We've worked against the odds and it all feels like an accident, but on purpose!"