Rising star Jillian Jacqueline scored big when she got Keith Urban to sing on her single, “If I Were You.” The idea to include the country music superstar was not only not Jacqueline’s idea, she was certain that someone like Urban would not sing with her – until he did.
“Keith Urban is awesome. I’m a huge fan,” Jacqueline told PopCulture.com. “When my label proposed the idea of asking Keith Urban to be on our song, ‘If I Were You,’ I laughed in their face, and then they sent it to him, and he was the most gracious, amazing human, and we got to record it together, and I think he’s definitely changed the course of my career just by being on that song. I can’t say enough thank yous to him. He’s a class act.”
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Not only did Urban sing with Jacqueline on the song, but he invited her to record it with him in his own home studio.
“I showed up very disheveled because the day we recorded this song, I basically drove from Kentucky to Tennessee in this hail storm,” Jacqueline recalled. “It was pretty rough, but I showed up, and his house is beautiful, and he’s just so nice. He’s just a rock star. He’s a superstar. It’s fun to be in his presence, for sure. You learn a lot. You’re like, ‘Oh, he’s doing life right. He knows what’s going on.’”
Jacqueline wrote “If I Were You,” as she was falling in love with her now-fiancé, Bryan Brown.
“I couldn’t wait to share this song. I wrote it — with Sarah Buxton and Jordan Reynolds — about meeting and falling for someone new very soon after a heartbreak and feeling unprepared to love again,” Jacqueline told CMT. “The song was very real to me when I wrote it, and is now one of the most special songs of my career because Keith is part of it with me. His voice and guitar playing took this song to the next level, and I am so proud of it.”
Jacqueline was in the 2018 class of CMT’s Next Women of Country, which Jacqueline was proud to be included in, if only to show support for fellow female artists.
“I think it’s super important for us as not only artists, but also just as part of music community to show people solidarity and to be there for each other because we’re all going through it as separate artists,” said Jacqueline. “We all have our own journeys, but, as females, it is a very … It’s a very specific experience. I think having friends that understand that and understand what you go through and how it feels to be a woman in this industry is very important. We all try to encourage each other and support each other as much as we can.”
Download “If I Were You” on iTunes.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Mat Hayward
