Songfacts®:

• "I Can't" is a driving, soulful number that explores themes of heartbreak and the struggle to move on after a relationship ends. Reba McEntire sings about feeling overwhelmed by her own emotional turmoil, but there's also a flicker of hope in the second verse where she talks of finding "higher ground," a place where she'll be "as good as new."
• Canadian country music artist Victoria Banks originally wrote the song with Tania Hancheroff and Tia Sillers in the late 2000s. She recorded it for her second album, When You Can Fly. When McEntire heard the song, it resonated deep within her soul.
  
  "I love the lyrics of this song. I love the melody," she said. "I really am drawn to minor chords in a song, and that's what this one has. A lot of people tell me they can relate to it."
  
  McEntire covered the song in 2024 as the lead single from 33rd album.
• McEntire first teased the release of "I Can't" during her appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show on May 2, 2024. Five days later, she kicked off season 25 of The Voice's first live results episode (where she serves as a judge) with a fiery live performance.
  
  A few days after that, McEntire doubled down on "I Can't" at the ACM Awards, where she not only hosted the show but closed it with an emotional rendition of this song.
• Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell) produced the song. "We stripped it down, and then we recorded it and then started adding more things to the track," said McEntire of the recording process. "It was a lot of fun. We had a great time in the studio."