Brett Young scored the fourth No. 1 single of his career as “Mercy” ascended to the top of both the Billboard Country Airplay chart and Mediabase chart. The breakup ballad, which was co-penned by Brett and Sean McConnell, features simple piano accompaniment with Brett’s stripped-down vocals that beckon his love interest to end their relationship with “mercy.”
“We knew pretty early that ‘Mercy’ had to be a single because of the way the fans respond when I played it live,” said Brett. “I wrote this song from a really vulnerable and honest place, so to see it go number one is really special.”
“Mercy” follows previous chart-toppers “Sleep Without You,” “In Case You Didn’t Know” and “Like I Loved You” from Brett’s 2017 self-titled debut album.
“Falling in love or falling out of love—those are the easiest songs to write because it’s just straight from personal experience,” says Brett to Nash Country Daily. “I think everybody’s felt both of those. Everybody’s been in love, everybody’s had heartbreak. We noticed that when we put together the 12 songs that would make the [self-titled debut] record, there was not a party song on this record. I’ve written a ton of party songs and not that there’s anything wrong with that. I think, in trying to tell my story and let people get to know me, it seemed like we should talk about things that I’ve lived.”
photo by Jason Simanek