Brett Young’s ‘Mercy’ Lands at No. 1

Brett Young has earned another No. 1 single, this time with “Mercy.” The song is the fourth, and likely final, single from his self-titled freshman record.

“We knew pretty early that ‘Mercy’ had to be a single because of the way the fans respond when I played it live,” Young says in a statement. “I wrote this song from a really vulnerable and honest place, so to see it go No. 1 is really special.”

“Mercy” was written by Young, along with Sean McConnell. With lines like “So if you’re gonna break my heart, just break it / And if you’re gonna take your shot, then take it / Take it / If you made up your mind, then make it / Make this fast / If you ever loved me / Have mercy,” the tune wasn’t entirely autobiographical, but had remnants of Young’s personal life intertwined throughout the song.

“The reason I like ‘Mercy’ so much is I didn’t live that exactly, but I’ve lived multiple versions of that,” Young explains. “I think that’s why people are going to be able to relate to the song so well. There are so many different variations and versions of that kind of heartbreak that I think people have experienced. If you do a good enough job of telling us that we’re keeping it vague enough, it can be anybody’s story.”

“Mercy” was likely propelled to the top of the charts at least in part because of the emotional, heart-breaking video, which featured the California native as the main character.

“I’m doing my version of acting,” he quips. “We picked a really, really cool place to shoot and that kind of tells a lot of the story itself. What we wanted to do is just tell the story of a relationship where it’s seemingly good all the time. But, just like everybody who’s been in one of those knows, behind the scenes it’s not all the time.”

Young had a chart-topping single with previous hit, “Like I Loved You,” also a heart-breaking ballad, but Young promises his next record will have more uplifting songs.

“It is definitely a happier feeling album,” Young says. “I did though, want to make sure that we didn’t just put out 12 love songs. You alienate kind of half your audience at that point. I’m saying half being generous. Everybody has way more broken heart stories than happily ever after. So there’s more uptempo songs and just the overall feel is happier. But I still put a good amount of break-up songs in there for the people that are connecting to those right now.”

Young is playing fairs and festivals this summer, and will hit the road this fall to serve as the opening act on Thomas Rhett‘s Life Changes Tour. Find a list of all of his upcoming shows at BrettYoungMusic.com.

Download “Mercy” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Rick Diamond