Tyler Hubbard Sent New Song ‘Undivided’ to Tim McGraw Because ‘He’s a Great Guy With a Great Heart’

On Wednesday, Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard released their new song, “Undivided,” an anthem of unity aiming to encourage listeners to be kind to one another amid an incredibly turbulent time in the United States. “It felt almost spiritual to us when we were in there singing the song,” McGraw told CBS This Morning of the recording process. “It was something that was really motivating.”

Hubbard wrote the song with Chris Loocke in November when he was quarantining on his tour bus in his driveway after being diagnosed with COVID-19. “The climate of our culture right now and our country” inspired the compassionate track, and Hubbard shared that it “just felt like a message that I wanted to say and that felt like needed to be heard. Not only by the fans but even by myself.” The Florida Georgia Line member shared that he was hearing McGraw on the song “the whole time” he was writing it, and he knew McGraw is “a great guy with a great heart.”

After the song was completed, he sent it to McGraw, who shared that his first question was, “All right, what are we going to do with this song? How are we going to do it? When are we going to do it? Because it needs to be done right now.”

The song was released one week after the riot at the Capitol, and both Hubbard and McGraw agreed that their message couldn’t have been more timely. “As sad as I was, I thought, ‘Man, I thought we needed this message last year and I didn’t think we could need it any more than we needed it last year, but apparently we still do,’” Hubbard recalled. McGraw added that “the Capitol thing was something I don’t know that I’ve processed well enough to even put into words yet. It was so sad and so profound and something that I never thought I would ever see in this country.”

“But the song, it speaks to more of the social contract that we have with each other,” he continued. “It’s not about politics, it’s about how we’re supposed to treat each other.”

“I think it’s time to come together / You and I can make a change / Maybe we can make a difference / Make the world a better place,” the pair sing. “Look around and love somebody / We’ve been hateful long enough / Let the good Lord reunite us / Till this country that we love’s undivided.”