Here’s Why Jessie James Decker Waited 3 Years to Release ‘I’m Gonna Love You’

The arrival of Jessie James Decker‘s latest single, “I’m Gonna Love You,” was a long time in the making — three years to be exact. The country star sat down with Tetris Kelly for the latest Billboard News interview and revealed that she song was originally completed in 2020, but was put on pause at the request of her team.

“This has been a song I’ve held onto since 2020. I wrote it in 2020 with Emily Shackleton and Liz Rose, two of the most incredible songwriters in town. It was just a song I loved so much, and I felt my team didn’t let me put it out for so long,” she shared. “It wasn’t that they didn’t like it — it was like, ‘Let’s wait.’ And finally, I’m like, ‘I’m not waiting anymore.’ I was playing it live on tour, the crowd would go wild, I just felt like it was the right time to put this song out.”

The song arrived on Sept. 22, with a stripped version of the track arriving on Oct. 6. Of the track, Decker says it “shows a side of me I think no one’s ever seen before. It’s vulnerable, it’s soulful, my heart’s really just all in soul. It’s just one of my absolute favorites, so I’m really glad its out there.”

The country star also shared her thoughts about the genre showing dominance on the Billboard charts over the past year, noting that the controversy surrounding some tracks — such as Jason Aldean’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Try That in a Small Town” — is par for the course.

“There will always be controversy in every genre and every bit of music. It’s just part of it — it gets people fired up inside. Music is always going to make you feel some type of way. It’s either gonna make you sad, make you wanna get up and dance. That’s what makes music so incredible,” she explained. “It can just make you feel something, and this is why I love being a part of its moment. EMD had its moment, rock n’ roll had its moment. I just think it’s country’s turn again.”

The “I’m Gonna Love You” singer is also celebrating the Oct. 10 release of her second cookbook, Just Eat: More Than 100 Easy and Delicious Recipes That Taste Just Like Home. For Decker, branching out into food was a natural progression for her, as she was “raised by amazing cooks.”

“My mom’s side is all Italian coming over from Italy and settling in Louisiana. You got cajun roots, southern roots, and that just makes for good food,” she explained of her motivations — partly inspired by her struggles to feed her former NFL player husband Eric Decker — to branch out into food. “I’m not a chef. I’m not here to intimidate anybody or come up with all these fancy foods. I just wanna make great food and help you make great food too.”

Watch Decker’s full Billboard News interview in the video above.