Watch Jake Owen’s New Video, ‘I Was Jack (You Were Diane)

Jake Owen has just released his cinematic new video for “I Was Jack (You Were Diane).” The almost ten-minute video stars Mackenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge as high school sweethearts in the early ’80s, who separate as they enter adulthood, only to reconnect ten years later, with a bit of a cliff-hanger ending. Owen appears in the video, singing the song, and also makes a surprise cameo towards the end.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about a music video,” says Owen in a statement of the video, directed by Justin Clough. “I’ve never had anyone send me a 14-page treatment before, but this isn’t your typical country music video. I think it could be considered a short film. I really appreciate the attention to detail and hard work that everyone put into making it. I’m anxious to hear what people think.”

Owen also includes a note to John Mellencamp, who wrote and recorded the original “Jack & Diane” song, released in 1982, and gave permission to Owen to record the new version.

“John, Thanks for building the highways we’ve been riding on,” writes Owen, “and providing the soundtrack to the lives of so many small town kids like me.”

The Florida native reached out to Mellencamp when he first heard “I Was Jack (You Were Diane),” and waited for the music icon to give his permission for Owen to record the song before he went into the studio.

“The most important thing to me and my team is that we sent the song to Mellencamp and he digs the track,” Owen explains. “Getting his stamp of approval sealed the deal for me that this song should be our debut single.”

“I Was Jack (You Were Diane)” is from Owen’s upcoming album, his first on Big Loud Records.

“I’m so thankful to have a career in this business,” Owen says. “I’m excited about everything in my life right now. I sense that people are pulling for me and that’s very humbling. It makes me want to work that much harder, not just for me, but for everyone who has been so supportive of me all these years. We’re in this together.”

The 36-year-old says his new single is the perfect way to launch his new record on a new label, after spending the first decade of his career on RCA Nashville.

“I never release a song without the intention of stepping up to the plate and knocking it out of the park,” says Owen. “When I first heard ‘I Was Jack (You Were Diane),’ I thought, ‘How can I do this and re-create what is already a classic song?’ But the more I listened to it, the more I saw my own life growing up. The original ‘Jack & Diane’ was about ‘two American kids growing up in the heartland’ and that image is exactly what so many country songs are based on.”

Download “I Was Jack (You Were Diane)” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/JakeOwen