Songfacts®:

• Canadian country singer Tenille Townes is joined by Bryan Adams on this duet about a couple caught up in a complicated romance that both sustains and destroys them.
• Townes originally wrote the song with Kate York (known for her work on the TV series Nashville) and Daniel Tashian, who produced Townes' Living Room Worktapes EP. Lady Antebellum got the first crack at it when they recorded it with guest vocalists Little Big Town for their 2019 album, Ocean, but it wasn't released as a single.
  
  Jumping a head a few years, Townes - who earned acclaim in her own right with the hit singles "Somebody's Daughter" and "Jersey On The Wall" - was about to have a chance encounter with one of her musical heroes: Bryan Adams.
  
  She was recording music for the 2022 Hallmark movie Time For Him To Come Home For Christmas at Adams' Vancouver studio, The Warehouse, where they ran into each other on a staircase. Even though she thought the chance of collaborating was slim, Townes couldn't shake the idea and thought "The Thing That Wrecks You" would be the perfect fit for their voices. To her surprise, Adams agreed.
  
  Townes recalled in a 2023 Songfacts interview: "There was just an energy about this song. Something about his voice and the texture of his voice just felt like it would relate to the feeling of what this song represents. In a lot of ways, it's just the wreckage of someone who brings out the best and worst in you. I think you grow together through that. The tension of that, I feel in his music a lot. I look up to that. I felt like that is something that would transfer well. I also was like, 'How cool would it be to hear our voices together?'"
• Adams also earned a songwriting credit on this version, which features alternate lyrics from the original. For example, the first verse has Townes comparing her lover to "a photograph in a house of flames" rather than "a bird in flight to a house of flames" from Lady A's rendition. Townes was excited to implement all of Adams' ideas, which made the track feel like a new song.
  
  She told Songfacts: "I've learned so much about his creative process, his perspective as a songwriter, sonically. So many of his ideas to add to the song were truly incredible so I've loved the time getting to get to know him as a writer, artist, and a mentor. It's been worth so much to me, and the song just feels like a bonus."
• Although they didn't get to release their version as a single, Lady A was blown away by the song when they first heard the demo with Townes' vocal. Charles Kelley, the country group's lead vocalist, recalled: "It just floored me. There was something very dark. I just kept coming back to it."
  
  Lady A had never featured guest artists on an album before, but they were eager to collaborate with fellow country-pop hitmakers Little Big Town. When Kelley sent Townes' demo to the band, they had the same reaction.
  
  "I sent them two songs and they flipped out over 'The Thing That Wrecks You,'" he continued. "And so to put together seven voices on one song was such an interesting, fun challenge. It's definitely an art piece on the record."