Carrie Underwood's "Southbound" is the party anthem of her 2018 studio album Cry Pretty. The single is the 14th No. 1 song as a co-writer, and her 27th overall chart-topper. 

Co-written by Underwood with David Garcia and Josh Miller, "Southbound" is all about tanlines, "redneck margaritas" and drinking with friends out on the water during the summer season. Read on to find out more about the writing session for the song, as shared by Underwood, Garcia and Miller at a press event in Nashville.

David Garcia: It was Carrie’s idea.

Carrie Underwood: It was looking for that extra piece to the puzzle that was missing and coming in, being like, "I know we kind of need something lighter and fun." A lot of [the songs on Cry Pretty] were more serious songs, more weighty songs or slower songs, and we just kind of needed that fresh piece.

It’s always hard when you walk in with preconceived ideas of how [a writing session] should go because then … you could all be bummed out and you could’ve written, like, the greatest sad song ever. If you come in [and] you’re like, "I really need something uptempo and fun," it could not be the best thing for the day.

Josh Miller: I remember being really loose. I feel like it was teed up: She brought the idea. Garcia did what he always does and had a great vibe -- which you hear, the meat of that track -- kind of prepared.

I think we just kind of all had fun, wrote something that we all enjoyed.

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