Jordan Davis Gets Candid About the Hits That Changed His Career

When Jordan Davis joined Backstage Country as co-host alongside Elaina Smith, fans got more than just a fun radio takeover. They got a front-row seat to the real-life stories behind the songs that turned him into one of country music’s most relatable voices.

And as it turns out, those hits aren’t just clever writing, they’re pulled straight from life.

Davis recalled how he felt when he found out 'Singles You Up' became his first No. 1, “With that being the first one off of the record, I felt really good about having some songs behind it. I'm glad it worked out that way because I was able to celebrate. I'll be honest, that was the last song we wrote for that first record. So, like, we were going with "Slow Dance in a Parking Lot" for my first single, and then I wrote "Singles You Up" kind of late in the recording process, turned it in, and my team was like, ‘Dude, you need to go cut this. Like, this might be our first single. So that kind of took some stress off of, like, ‘Well, if this does work, what's next?’”

Since “Buy Dirt” is popular on TikTok and is Davis’s most-used song, with over 130,000 people making videos with it, Smith asked if it felt different when his song inspires others to create their own art. Davis’s response was immediate. “Yeah. Especially with one like that, mainly because of the meaning and why we wrote that song. So when I do see people using that song for their story, it. It means a little bit more to me because I think that's what those songs do to me, and I can kind of bookmark on where I was at, when I heard this or what I was going through when this song really kind of helped me through, whatever it was.”

He added, “So to see people, talking about buying a first home or moving somewhere and ‘Buy Dirt’s playing to it or bringing home a kid to their house that they built, it means a little bit more than just like, ‘Hey, I like this song I wrote. It sounds cool. Some people like it.’”

Davis revealed he almost didn’t record “Next Thing You Know.” He said, “I go back to the day we wrote it because I'm writing with Josh Osborne, Greylan James, and Chase McGill. Three writers that are unreal songwriters have hits with everybody. And I walk in with an idea that is so anti-hit that it's not even funny, which is to write a song about falling in love, having kids, growing up, getting old, and then said like, ‘And you know what, if we don't even do a chorus, we don't even repeat anything. It just is kind of like life. It starts, and it just keeps going.’ And all three of those guys were like 100% and probably in the back of their mind, they're just like, ‘You know, a repeatable hitty chorus would probably do us pretty well.’”

He chuckled, “But, man, I think that goes to show you that it's just three great writers that are willing to do whatever, and we finish the song, I go home. It meant a lot to me, but I never would have expected it to do what it's done, and I wouldn't have expected it to grow on me the way it has.”

For more of Jordan Davis’s music, subscribe to his YouTube channel here.