Songfacts®:

• Born and raised in Nashville, Mitchell Tenpenny learned the ropes of the music industry from his grandmother, the late music publishing executive Donna Hilley. After graduating from Nashville's David Lipscomb with a music business degree, he decided to pursue a career in music. Tenpenny signed a publishing deal with Sony/Tree Music, and had some notable placements, including Granger Smith's single "If the Boot Fits."
  
  Tenpenny signed a record deal in early 2018 to a joint venture with Riser House/Sony Music Nashville on the Columbia Records imprint. This is his debut release with the label.
• Co-written with Jordan Schmidt and Justin Wilson, this post-heartbreak ballad is about the problem of wanting to get in touch with an ex after a few too many drinks. Tenpenny's solution is to quit drinking so he can finally get over the girl.
  
  All those bottles sitting up on the shelf are just salt on the wound
  One sip and I'm picking up the phone trying not to go home without you
  And that ain't nothing but a whole lotta pain
  And that kind of hurt, ooh hurts, it ain't worth another drink
  
  "It's not about being sober forever, because all of us drink and we enjoy it, but it's about quitting drinking for a little bit to stand a chance of getting over somebody," Tenpenny explained of the song.
• It was Tenpenny's idea to write this song, as he'd recently experienced something similar. He and his co-writers couldn't come up with a hook that tied the lyrics together until Jordan Schmidt got up to use the restroom, and then returned with the phrase "drunk me."
  
  "There was just something about that title that made sense for the whole thing," Tenpenny recalled to Taste of Country.
• Mitchell Tenpenny pitched the song to other artists but no one took took it up. The singer told Billboard that he never writes for himself as he doesn't like to be put in a box. "Something you love that day might not be who you are next week," Tenpenny explained, "and I don't like being stuck to that standard."
  
  However when it came time to record his debut single for Riser House and he found "Drunk Me" was still available, it was the obvious choice. He said: "This feels like what I want to say in this record and as a first thing to the world."
• Mitchell Tenpenny told The Boot how the song takes a familiar topic and gives it a twist. "I think a lot of people have dealt with that, where you break up, get your heart broken, try to drink them off your mind," he said. "It's been written a bunch of times, but I like the perspective of, you quit drinking for a second to stand a chance of getting over somebody. It's kind of where the song arrived."
  
  "I've dealt with it - tried to drink them off your mind, and it didn't work out and did a double take on it," Tenpenny added.
• Jordan Schmidt told Billboard he thinks other artists didn't want to record the song because it's a hard one to sing. Co-writer Justin Wilson sang the demo, and Schmidt was unsure if Tenpenny could outdo Wilson's vocal. "Luckily, Mitchell is amazing and crushed it," he said.