Ten albums into his career, Chris Young wants to make one thing clear: He isn’t going anywhere. The Middle Tennessee-born singer-songwriter says as much in the title of this collection, which marks his first release with label partner Black River Entertainment and follows 2024’s Young Love & Saturday Nights. Young tells Apple Music that he wanted I Didn’t Come Here to Leave to be a dynamic listening experience from start to finish, which led him to assemble 14 tracks—most written himself, and some from outside collaborators—with a mix of styles, like the elastic twang of opener “Some Around Here” and the swampy Southern rock of “I Feel a Cold One Coming On.” Other highlights include two emotional tracks dedicated to Young’s parents: “Just Keep Living,” in honor of his father’s successful battle against cancer, and “Jesus, Momma, Country Radio,” which pays loving tribute to his mother and a simple country lifestyle. “Right out of the box, I want you having a good time listening to this record,” he says. “And it goes a lot of places, obviously. There’s breakup songs, there’s meaningful songs, there’s love songs, there’s all of those things in there.” Below, Young shares insight into several key tracks. “I Didn’t Come Here to Leave” “I liked the sentiment of like, ‘Hey, I’ve still got a bunch of stuff that I want to say even after this, my 10th album.’ So, I like the idea of that and also just that this is something that you’re going to crank and roll your windows down.” “Good as Yours” “When we were writing this, actually, Trannie Anderson, who’s written a bunch of stuff for Lainey Wilson and is more of a piano player than I am, had this piano lick. She had that when she came in that day, and I’m like, ‘OK, literally stop. Play it on the piano so I can memorize it because that is great and that’s exactly what we’re writing.’” “I Feel a Cold One Coming On” “That was a song that I’ve had for a while now. I actually tracked that before in the studio and then recut it with this band because the band for the entire record is the same guys all the way down. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do that, and a couple of guys had to sub some sessions to be there for the second time that we cut a batch of songs. But I do think that was something that was really important to me for this project.” “Til the Last One Dies” “Obviously, it’s the first single off the record, but it’s one of my favorite songs on here, and one of the few that I did not have a hand in writing—I just found this song. And I’m so lucky that I found it before anybody else because I think it is just an incredible, incredible love song. Again, I don’t want to be greedy, so, if you’re getting married this year, not even 100 percent of everyone should use this as their wedding song—just 99 percent of people.” “Boots on the Ground” “When we started writing this, I was down in Florida on a writer’s retreat with a couple of my buddies, and I was like, ‘This is either going to be a great idea or a really crappy idea, but I’m going to write the chorus as if this is a line dance.’ It’s specifically made to be that. And I did, and then we made one.” “Just Keep Living” “This is about my dad. I wrote this about my dad’s battle with cancer. And he beat it—kicked its ass, and he is still hanging. He’s had two heart attacks. This guy is just like, ‘That wall over there, I’m just going to walk through it.’ Old country guy, Dale Earnhardt mustache. I love my dad, and I actually had to call him because this was so personal. I was like, ‘Are you sure you’re OK with me putting all this out there into the world?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’”