Chapters

Brett Young first met the singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw in the mid-2000s and in time they became friends. Once he'd got himself a recording contract, Young was reluctant to pursue a collaborative effort with his pal, for fear of exploiting their friendship for business purposes. However, as Young was preparing his Ticket to L.A, album he decided it was time to reach out to DeGraw about writing a song together. DeGraw agreed, but on one condition. "He goes, 'You keep telling me your label wants that song that's not about a girl, they want a life song. We gotta write your story.' That was his stipulation," Young explained. DeGraw's perspective on the track was especially meaningful to Young as both became performing artists later in life. "The happy coincidence is that the third chapter of my story is music, and that's Gavin's story, too," the singer noted. "So the writing process was a blast."

Young and DeGraw bought in Ross Copperman to help them complete the song, which begins with Young's childhood relationship with his father before chronicling his time as a college baseball pitcher when an elbow injury ruined his dreams of playing the sport professionally.

The third verse features Gavin DeGraw giving the singer advice and encouragement. Young told Billboard: "The thing that we didn't expect going in was how easy it would be to make the third verse my story as well as his story, being that music is how both of our lives have ended up. We didn't even think about featuring him on it until after we started realizing that that third verse could apply to both of us."