Story Behind the Song: Dustin Lynch, ‘I’d Be Jealous Too’

"I'd Be Jealous Too," the third single off of Dustin Lynch's third studio album, Current Mood, is a surprising contrast to its preceding single, "Small Town Boy." In the song, the country singer explores new territory with pop and R&B influences, and even takes a couple of cues from EDM.

At a press conference, Lynch explained why he likes to switch up his songwriting style, and why it was so important for his Current Mood album to include a variety of different ... well, moods. He also shared that, despite the differences between the two songs, "Small Town Boy" and "I'd Be Jealous Too" have a special connection; in fact, without "Small Town Boy," the latter might never have been written.

There's a great connection between "Small Town Boy" and this song, because I can blame "I'd Be Jealous Too" on the video shoot we did for "Small Town Boy."

I wrote the song after we'd done the shoot, and I'd taken a red-eye flight back to Nashville, and I got off the plane, got home, and I was so tired that I thought, "Man, I really need to cancel this write." I had two days in the studio with Ross [Copperman] and Jon [Nite], so I thought I'd just cancel that day and see them the next day.

The minute I laid down in my bed, I thought about how every time I want to cancel a write but go on it anyway, I wind up writing something I love. So I got up, got a cup of coffee, went into town, and we wrote "I'd Be Jealous Too."

It started with me talking about shooting the music video the day before, gushing about this beautiful location and how awesome Claire [Holt], my co-star in the video, was to work with. The color of the song comes from that day, when I was on the beach in Malibu. The idea came from something Jon, Ross and I have all felt, which is that the biggest compliment another guy can give you is when he's checking out your girl. It just is. We've all had that feeling.

"I'd Be Jealous Too" is more melodically pop than most of the songs on the album, and has kind of an EDM-style crescendo in the middle. We could have done another "Small Town Boy" or another "Mind Reader," but when it came to putting the album together, I wanted to keep it fresh and keep people guessing. I need that. I would be really bored onstage if I had to play the same type of song over and over.

Rising Stars Share Lessons Learned as Opening Acts