Album: Can't Say I Ain't Country (2018)
Charted: 32
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • When Florida Georgia Line first hit the charts in 2012 they were tagged as a good time duo. This was based on their lyrical content being centered on such bro-country clichés as bikini clad girls, cruising in a chevy and the virtues of a tailgate party. By 2015 both Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley had got married and this song finds the duo focusing on the personal growth they have found in settling down with their soulmates.

    It's like one, two, three, just as easy as can be
    Just the way you look at me, you make me smile
    Ain't no need to complicate it
    We both know that's overrated
    We've been there, it's safe to say it ain't our style


    The one-time country Nickleback duo now get their kicks from the simple pleasures of uncomplicated love.
  • Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley wrote the song with Michael Hardy (Tyler Farr's "I Should Go to Church Sometime," Morgan Wallen's "Up Down") and Mark Holman (Sick Puppies' "Stick To Your Guns", Red's "Feed The Machine.") It was produced by the duo's longtime collaborator, Joey Moi.
  • The song was created during a busy time for the FGL duo back in 2017. "I think everything was going 100 miles an hour, we were on the road," Tyler Hubbard recalled to ABC Radio in a 2018 interview, "and I remember last year was kind of a whirlwind."

    Hubbard added that that "Simple" serves as a reminder to him and Brian Kelley to slow down and get back to the basics. "I think for us," he said, "we just have to - probably on a weekly basis - remind ourselves... 'Alright, let's take a few days off, let's recharge, let's get re-grounded if you will, get re-balanced.'"
  • Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Michael Hardy and Mark Holman wrote the song on June 1, 2017, in Austin, Texas, during the first day of FGL's Smooth Tour. Mark Holman had the beat, which the other three thought was cool and when Hubbard had the idea of "simple" they started rolling with it.

    Hardy recalled to The Boot: "With one-word titles like 'Simple,' it's fun to just dial back and think, 'Okay, how simple can we make this lyric?' That's [how we got] the 'One, two, three ... I met you and you met me' kind of stuff. It's just simple. It's fun to dig into those sorts of things when you have a title like that."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.