Scotty McCreery Reveals What Has Changed After 8 Months of Marriage to Gabi

Scotty McCreery and his wife, Gabi, have been happily married for eight months, since June of last year, with both of them still – mostly – enjoying the joys of being a newlywed. But the American Idol alum reveals one thing has changed, now that they are getting accustomed to married life, allowing Gabi to get just a little more sleep.

"The other day, she was laying in bed, and she said, 'Remember when they told you there would come a day when you'd have to get yourself to the airport?'" McCreery recalled to PEOPLE. "'That day is today.'"

"I said, 'Well, I don't blame you,'" the singer recounted with a laugh. "'You stay in bed.'"

Not that McCreery objected to the schedule change.

"She's awesome," McCreery boasted. "She puts up with me and all the crazy schedule and what I do."

The couple divides their time between their native North Carolina, where Gabi works as a nurse; and Nashville, where McCreery was just on hand to celebrate the success of his second No. 1 hit, with "This Is It," written about his now-wife when he was ready to propose.

"It's probably my most special song I've had yet," McCreery said of "This Is It," which he wrote with Frank Rogers and Aaron Eshuis. "When I wrote it, I literally didn't think it'd make the record or go on radio because it was so personal. 'This is just for you, baby.' And the label heard it and said, 'No, this is going on the record and this is going to radio.' And I was like, awesome! So it's pretty cool to see such a personal song take off like it did."

McCreery acknowledges the road to success was twisted for him. After winning Idol in 2011, the singer released two hit albums, Clear as Day and See You Tonight, and then had a gap of five years before releasing Seasons Change, his 2018 record that included both his first No. 1 hit, "Five More Minutes" and "This Is It." McCreery certainly could have considered giving up, but instead he vowed to work harder, thanks to an important lesson he learned as a child.

"I could go [back] to middle school in my seventh grade year, getting cut from my baseball team," McCreery said at a media event. "And I was just like, 'Are you kidding me?'"

"I worked my tail off for an entire year," he continued. "[I] tried out again in eighth grade, and I was the No. 1 pitcher and our clean-up batter that whole year."

With two chart-topping singles to his credit, the 25-year-old is ready to work harder than ever before, especially with the release of his latest single, "In Between."

"The first was the excitement of finally getting on top of the mountain," he says. "This one for me seems a little more validating. It's like we're not a one-hit wonder. We're here to stay."

Photo Credit: Getty images/ Rick Diamond