Sugarland Announce New Album, 'Bigger,' Release Date

Sugarland are finally sharing more details of their upcoming new album! The duo, made up of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, reveal that their new album, Bigger, will be released on June 8.

Of the new set of tunes, only one song, "Love Me Like I'm Leaving," was written before their self-imposed hiatus. The rest, including their current "Still the Same" single, came after Nettles and Bush decided to reunite.

"It was fun," Bush tells Nashville's Tennessean of reuniting with Nettles to write. "It was like, 'Oh yeah, we grab things quick.' We grab them out of the air, and they bounce real easy."

Bigger also includes a song Bush wrote in response to a recent school shooting, when he was contemplating how he wanted to explain the senseless tragedy to his son and daughter.

"This is not about whether you should have a gun or not," Bush explains. "It's about, 'What do you tell a kid?' It's a whole different conversation."

"It's a fantastic litmus for any issue," adds Nettles. "I think we have the wonderful ability to invite questions rather than point fingers."

If Sugarland surprised fans by appearing together at the 2017 CMA Awards, Nettles and Bush were equally surprised by the immediate fan reaction.

"I think there's something with Sugarland that is a higher calling," notes Nettles. "What we've been writing for this new record, it is clear we had things inside of us that we felt the world needed to hear. I think translating that pain into hope is something that Sugarland does really well."

As Sugarland prepare to embark on their Still the Same Tour, the pair are eager to share the music with the fans who have been with them for every part of their journey – the good and the bad – since their Twice the Speed of Life was released in 2004.

"I'm sitting with it, and now I get it," Bush says. "This was never about us. It's about what happens when (Sugarland) sits down and makes stuff. And when we sit down and make stuff, it's about you. It's all about you, and that's why we go play it in front of people — because it's theirs."

"What we have done for our fans, I hope, is show them they can trust there are times when we will come apart, and there are times when we will come back together," Nettles adds. "I love that we have done exactly what we said we were going to do. We took time and … we came back."

"Still the Same" is currently in the Top 30 and climbing. Download the single on iTunes.

Sugarland's Still the Same Tour will kick off on May 4. Dates can be found on their website.

Photo Credit: Instagram/Sugarland