Chase Rice Establishes New Vision With 'Eyes on You'

Chase Rice is back at radio with a brand-new single. "Eyes on You," written by Rice along with hit songwriters Ashley Gorley and Chris DeStefano, is from his latest Lambs & Lions album.

The song, which says, "No matter where we go / No matter what we do / If you're there girl, I've got my eyes on you / Don't matter where we've been / No there ain't no better view / Than you in my arms with my eyes on you," takes the listener to faraway places, from Montana to Times Square, and London to Paris. Although it sounds like it was inspired by a romantic interest, perhaps surprisingly, Rice says that isn't the case – at least not yet.

"I've yet to experience that fully with anyone that I can say this song was written about," Rice tells PopCulture.com. "My job is to paint a picture, no matter if the picture's real or fake. The cool part about this song is a lot of them are real. Going to Big Sur – I've been to a lot of these places. At that point, London, I don't think I'd even been to London at that point. Paris, never been to Paris. But for me, it speaks volumes to painting that picture of all these places I either wanted to go with a girl or have been with a girl.

"In that moment, every girl wants this," he continues. "For guys missing all the scenery because his eyes are on her, well he's either really creepy or he's in love. The love part the women want for sure. They wanna be seen."

"Eyes on You" is more than just a hit song at radio. The romantic, rhythmic tune is one that Rice believes will take his career to a place he's been working towards, albeit with a few detours, for the last several years – every since his debut "Ready, Set, Roll" was released in 2013.

"I wasn't sure if it was gonna be the next single," says Rice. "I've been open about this. We had a lot to fix with my career. Some my fault, some other people's fault. Whatever, that's just how it is. You gotta fix problems.

"But we had a lot to fix from 'Ready Set Roll,' [and] 'Gonna Wanna Tonight,'" he adds. "So that's why I didn't put it as a first single because we wanted 'Three Chords & the Truth.' It's like the work horse. They went in there and filled in all these cracks in that foundation that we had."

The Florida native has had both hills and valleys since his freshman Dirt Road Communion record was released in 2012. In addition to writing his own songs, he's had hits with other artists, including co-writing Florida Georgia Line's multi-platinum single, "Cruise." Rice also released two albums independently before partnering with Columbia Records to release Ignite the Night. Although the album went to No. 1, and included the hit single, "Gonna Wanna Tonight," creative differences caused Rice to leave the label, initially unsure what his next step would be, before signing with Broken Bow Records to release Lambs & Lions.

"All these things are happening," Rice says. "And we deserve this. I'm not saying that in a cocky way. Me, my crew, my band, we worked out a**es off the last two years. A lot of the nights are just like 'All right, we just gotta get through another one.' Because even throughout the down time, we still had a lot of shows and a lot of sold out shows. So it's like, we didn't take a step up which is where we believed we belong, but we've continued to grow and continue to solidify this fan base, so let's just keep on going."

Rice's career has had plenty of twists and turns, but he wouldn't change any of it, because it made him exactly who he is today.

"I know who I am as an artist," the 32-year-old insists. "I know who I am as a person now. So I know the songs that I'm gonna write. Like yesterday, we wrote a song that I don't know if it's any good or not, but it's me. I know that. You really can't write a better song than that. If the artist knows who he is, if he's putting out songs that are him – and included with that, they're very much him and they're included with he knows who is he as a person, as an artist, and he puts that out – that solidifies. "Nobody else can do that.

"This artist over here, she can't put that out," Rice maintains. "This artist over here, he can't put that out. I'm the only artist who can put that out because it's me and I know who I am. So for me, that's the formula."

Rice's path back to radio might not have been an easy one, but in hindsight he is profoundly grateful for all the battles he has faced, because it's made him more determined than ever to do his music his way.

"I'm gonna show you why I'm gonna do it," promises Rice. "It's gonna work for me because that's me. That's what I wanna do. You're not the person who has to go out and sing these songs every night. I am. So I've had a lot of voices in my ear the last few years and I'm proud of the fact that I didn't continue to listen to them. I'm like, 'Nope. I'm done with this. I'm gonna do what I wanna do.' Management's behind me 100% on that, my publisher's behind me 100% on that. Most importantly, the label is behind me on that. And now with Broken Bow it's like, man, that's gonna be really special because they're all in."

Rice hints that big tour plans are in the works. Find a list of all of his upcoming shows, and download "Eyes on You," at ChaseRice.com.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Erika Goldring