Yahoo News Chase Wright Was Supposed to Play the Lead Role in Music Video for 'Hurt No More' — but He Changed His Mind
The first time Chase Wright heard "Hurt No More," the second half of the song wasn't even finished.
"I was playing a show this past year in North Carolina and ["Hurt No More co-writer] Taylor Phillips lives there, so he ended up coming out and we were just hanging out talking about songs he was working on," says Wright, 26, during a recent interview with PEOPLE, mere days before the release of his new single.
"As soon as I heard what he had, it felt like a hit. I begged him to let me write the second half of the song with him."
After getting the blessing of fellow co-writers Kane Brown, Jeremy Bussey and Ben Johnson, Phillips gave Wright the go-ahead, and the two eventually wrote the second half of the song in just over 30 minutes over speakerphone.
But then it came time to film a music video — and the Indiana native wasn't sure exactly what direction it should take.
"I sort of jotted down some quick notes and sent it off to my team, but then they said they thought it would be a good idea to reach out to some directors and see what their thoughts were," jokes Wright, who released his debut album Intertwined last year. "The guy we ended up going with sent back his treatment and it was almost exactly what I said."
The now-finished music video for "Hurt No More," premiering exclusively on PEOPLE, includes a storyline with a somewhat surprising twist at the end.
"I remember the director originally thinking that [the couple in the video] would hug at the end, but I didn't think it was a hugging moment," notes Wright of the video treatment, which follows a couple through the length of their relationship, from beginning to end and all the ups and downs in between. "It just didn't feel right."
Jason Myers Chase Wright
Wright should know since he, too, has lived through a similar breakup.
"Whenever I'm writing songs, I try to be inspired by something real to me and hopefully real to other people too," says Wright. "I did go through a breakup in the past where literally as she was leaving, I packed up her stuff in a box and handed it to her. And so, I wanted [the music video] to encompass the realness of that at the end."
And while Nashville-area actors were brought in to take on the leading roles in the music video, the handsome singer/songwriter from the Midwest could have certainly pulled it off too.
"That was the original plan, for me to be the male lead and then we'd get a female actress," recounts Wright, who has already impressed via tracks such as "Lying with You" "Wish You'd Miss Me" and "Why Can't It Be Over." "But I'm not an actor and I feel like it would detract from the story. Just because I'm singing the song doesn't mean the song has to be about me necessarily."
He laughs as he adds, "I would've wasted everybody's time because there was no way I was going to be anywhere near as good as that actor was!"
Nevertheless, Wright still played a huge part in the creation of the video, down to some of the smallest details.
"We put Busch Light cans everywhere," he says. "We weren't about to get Bud Light, you know? We wanted to show that this guy was hurting."
Wright is quick to mention that he himself is not, as he's "in a happy relationship now."
"There were times when it was really hard for me to let go," says Wright, who recently was named a "Highway Find" by SiriusXM, following in the footsteps of past recipients such as Luke Combs, Maren Morris and Dan + Shay. "I would put up with things that I probably shouldn't, and I would let myself go through things that I probably shouldn't just because I didn't want to let go of something or someone. But I think I've matured since then. This is just me, growing up and moving on and finding a healthy relationship."
It's a theme that just might make it into Wright's future music.
"Being very happy definitely gives me inspiration," he concludes. "I've thought a lot about it. If I hadn't been in the relationship that I'm in now, I feel like I would just be writing the same first record again. It's giving me a whole new wave of inspiration and is showing me a side of myself that I haven't seen before."
