Chris Young knows what it’s like to lose a close friend, and fans are reacting to his breakdown while performing a new song at the Grand Ole Opry for the very first time.

“Drowning” is a new song written for a close friend of Chris’ that passed away, and when he performed it at the Opry, he was visibly shaken by the powerful emotions he felt. Not only was the song written for his good friend who passed, but the same day as the performance, news of Granger Smith’s 3 year old son River tragically passing away also hit the country music family very hard.

It’s not hard to understand why it was a difficult song to sing to begin with, with powerful lyrics and the pain of losing someone so close to you. After hearing the song at the Opry, many fans connected to the song deeply and reached out to Chris with their own stories of losing a loved one.

The song wasn’t supposed to come out yet, but due to fan feedback, and the loss of Granger’s son hitting so close to home, Chris is going to release the song this Friday, June 14th.

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Last week, I debuted my new tune “Drowning” at the @opry and broke down in the middle of it… since then so many people have shared stories of loved ones lost and how they have connected to this song. I want you guys to have this one, and make it your own, so I’m going to release it this Friday.

A post shared by Chris Young (@chrisyoungmusic) on Jun 9, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT

6-10-19