Garth Brooks Shares Studio Version of ‘Stronger Than Me’

If you watched Garth Brooks’ CMA Awards performance of his new song, “Stronger Than Me,” and immediately wanted a studio version of the track in order to play it on a continuous loop, you’re now in luck — the star has released just that.

While the vocals are live from the show, piano is added into the track to flesh it out, giving this version more depth than the simple acoustic performance Brooks offered during the CMA Awards, the star armed with only his guitar as he premiered the song. A fuller arrangement only makes the sweeping ballad that much more powerful, with Brooks’ voice cutting through the instrumentals to deliver the song’s message in emotional fashion.

While Brooks doesn’t use streaming services and his music isn’t on YouTube, fans can purchase the studio version of “Stronger Than Me” on Amazon as part of what’s simply billed as Garth Brooks’ new album. In addition to Amazon, the song was also released to country radio on Monday.

“Stronger Than Me” was written by Matt Rossi and Bobby Terry, and Brooks has been candid about the fact that he only has one person in mind when singing the song — his wife, Trisha Yearwood. Speaking to PopCulture.com and other media backstage at the CMA Awards, Brooks explained that the song details multiple aspects of his relationship with the Food Network star.

“There are points in your life you never get across,” he said. “You both just get to this point, where you argue and argue and then you just get exhausted, and you’re done, and that’s kind of our way. We have two or three points in our life like that.”

“That song addresses two of those three points, so I noticed when I looked up at her, at those points, she was kind of laughing, smiling, and crying at the same time,” he continued, “so this song’s going to actually make our relationship better, whether it does anything in the business or not.”

Yearwood heard the song for the very first time during the show, cameras catching the Georgia native as she took in her husband’s performance, tears in her eyes as Brooks sang only to her. Though Brooks managed to pull this debut off, the 56-year-old shared on Good Morning America on Monday that this is the last time he’ll be surprising his wife.

“We don’t surprise each other. I surprised her twice,” he said. “That was once, and I surprised her when I proposed to her. No more surprises.”

The star added that while he had told himself he wouldn’t get emotional performing the song, one look at Yearwood threw that promise out the window.

“I said, ‘I’m going to do this, and I’m going to do this right and I won’t break down and cry,’” he recalled. “I looked right at her during the commercial break and started crying.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Erika Goldring