Exclusive: Michael Ray Opens Up About Heartbreak That Inspired ‘Her World or Mine’

Michael Ray’s “Her World or Mine,” from his upcoming Amos album, is one of the most personal songs he’s ever recorded, and he didn’t even write it. The song, written Brett Beavers, Jamie Paulin and Travis Denning, reminded Ray of a painful break-up he endured just last year.

“That one struck a chord for sure,” Ray admits to PopCulture.com. “That one’s probably the song on the record that was tough to sing a few times. One of the things I love about that song is that it’s kind of open, where the listener can put their own story into that. It really doesn’t say who’s who. It doesn’t say who got stuck and who went on.”

The song, which says, “One of us moved on / One of us got stuck / One of us is drinking just for fun / One of us is drinking to get drunk / One of us sleeps good / One of us hates to face the night / Just depends if you’re talking about / Her world or mine,” rings especially true for Ray, since he is still reminded daily of the woman he loved, and isn’t quite over yet.

“I think now, in the days with social media and stuff, it’s even harder,” Ray acknowledges. “Back ten years ago, you could just go, ‘That’s done,’ and you don’t see them. Now they’re all over your feed. They’re everywhere. It makes it a little harder to get through. Makes it a little harder to rip the band-aid off and try to focus on some new stuff.

“One of the things that I feel in love with about that song is the core of it, which is what I love about country music. No matter how it’s packaged, the core of country music has to be real and honest, and it has to be relateable. That’s what that song is. One of us is doing this, one of us is doing that, it just depends if you’re talking about her world or mine. They’re in two different places right now. What once was this one thing is now two different things that we didn’t see coming, and now we’re having to go through this.”

The 30-year-old didn’t hold back in the video for “Get to You,” which shows how broken-hearted he really was – and in many ways still is.

“It was tough, but that’s one of the reasons we wanted the ‘Get To You’ video to be what it was or what it is, which is to show the fans another side of what we all do. A lot of people just hear you on the radio, see you on TV, see you for the 45 minutes you’re on stage or whatever, and everything’s great. I want to knock down the fourth wall a little bit. I want them to know, ‘Hey, we’re all human.’”

Amos will be released on Friday, June 1, and is available for pre-order at MichaelRayMusic.com.

Photo Credit: Instagram/michaelraymusic