Need You Now

This is the first single and title track from country trio Lady A's sophomore album, Need You Now. (they were known at the time as Lady Antebellum, a name they changed in 2020 to avoid the association with slavery - "antebellum" refers to the pre-Civil War period in America). Group members Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott, along with co-writer Josh Kear, wrote this song about yearning for companionship in the middle of the night. Scott explained that the song, and many others on the album, "Are about what we are learning as we go through the ups and downs of different relationships." She added: "All three of us know what it's like to get to that point where you feel lonely enough that you make a late night phone call that you very well could regret the next day. But you do it anyway because it's the only thing that's going to give you any relief in that moment."

Josh Kear explained how quickly the song was written during the pre-telecast segment of the Grammy awards. "Actually, it was the second song we wrote that day," he said. "We were only together for two-and-a-half hours. We finished the first one in the first 45 minutes. Charles had a guitar thing and an opening line for a song and we wrote 'Need You Now' really fast and went, 'great, that was fun.' It was the first day I'd ever spent with them. They went their separate ways: it was Charles wife's birthday, I went home to my wife. Next thing you know it, it's on the record, title track, first single and here we are. It was actually the very last song they played for the label for deciding what songs were going to put on the album."

This was Lady A's second #1 on the Country chart. "I Run To You" topped the chart four months previously.