Made For You

Album: Greetings From… Jake (2019)
Charted: 32
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This poignant ballad features straightforward lyrics of devotion and love. The song was written by Joey Hyde, Benjy Davis and Neil Medley.

    Like a ship without a sea
    Or a song without a melody
    I don't know where I'd be or what I'd do
    'Cause I was made for you


    Jake Owen is telling his lover that he was made for her and couldn't operate without her.
  • Following a divorce from Lacey Buchanan, Jake Owen found love with girlfriend Erica Hartlein. He said during an album preview the demo arrived just at the right time. "This song is about being made for somebody, and I definitely feel that Erica and I are made for each other," Owen explained. "I think it's a powerful song about life and love."
  • Country singer Michael Ray heard Owen perform "Made For You" in January 2019 at the annual Country Cares for St. Jude event in Memphis. He immediately booked him to sing it as his wedding song during his marriage ceremony with Carly Pearce.
  • After Joey Hyde, Benjy Davis and Neil Medley wrote "Made It For You," they passed it onto Mojo Music song plugger Courtney Crist. Though she didn't know Jake Owen, Crist thought the song suited him, so she emailed him the demo. The singer immediately related to it on a personal level.

    Having become a father for the first time in July 2019, one lyric especially stood out. "I love the line about 'Two a.m. was made for pissed-off dads,'" Owen told Billboard. "I was a kid growing up who would piss off a dad because I probably brought his daughter home too late, and I'm going to be a pissed-off dad one day soon when my beautiful little girl will grow up and some kid brings her home late."
  • The song's visual showcases the loved ones of Jake Owen's fans. He asked them to send in video footage of themselves with the people who are "made for them."

    "I was looking for love of all different types and representations," the singer told People. "There were so many submissions."

    The clip also includes plenty of footage of Owen spending quality time with his own family; his girlfriend, Erica Hartlein, their baby daughter Paris, and Owen's daughter Pearl, who he shares with ex-wife Lacey Buchanan.
  • Nashville songwriters Alexander Cardinale and Morgan Reid brought legal action against Owen, claiming this song copied their song of the same name. Cardinale recorded "Made For You" for his 2014 Digital Youth album and Coca Cola later used it in an international ad campaign.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Tommy James

Tommy JamesSongwriter Interviews

"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

David Gray

David GraySongwriter Interviews

David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.