Garth Brooks Debuts ‘Stronger Than Me’, for Trisha Yearwood, at 2018 CMA Awards
Garth Brooks took the stage at the 2018 CMA Awards to play a brand-new song dedicated to his wife, Trisha Yearwood. "Stronger Than Me" is Brooks' new single; it will officially be released to radio on Thursday morning (Nov. 15).
It wasn't only the public's first time hearing "Stronger Than Me"--it was Yearwood's first time too. Situated in the front row, she watched as her husband played his acoustic guitar and revealed the deeply personal song (with his eyes closed the entire time!).
"She always says that I'm the rock that she leans on/But it's so hard to believe," he sang. "Every now and then she just wants me to hold her/Oh but that don't mean she's weak."
Brooks also sang, "You know, I always thought I had to have the answers/Be her strength and take the lead/When it comes to anything that matters/You're stronger than me."
Some other notable gems in "Stronger Than Me": "The fact you’re unafraid to show your feelings / just means you’re stronger than me." And, "She lifts the weight of this whole world up on her shoulders/ With nothing but the touch of her hand."
The song's ending was what really got the waterworks flowing. "If I had the choice I pray God takes me first/Because you're stronger than me." He mouthed, "I love you very much" at the end while his wife of 13 years (and everyone watching) tried to hold back the tears.
Brooks announced on his Nov. 5 Inside Studio G Facebook Live chat that he would be playing this never-before-heard song at the awards show; the country superstar noted at the time that he calls the song "Trisha's Song," but that neither she nor anyone else would hear the song prior to his CMAs performance. Originally, Brooks said, he had asked to perform the song -- a ballad "about the strength of a woman," which he cut a couple of months ago -- and the CMAs said no.
"I went to the CMAs and said, 'Let me sing that song to her that night. She hasn't heard it, and she won't until that moment. Nobody will.' They came back and said, 'Hey, look, something new that's a ballad probably doesn't work for us,'" Brooks shared during a press conference in October. "So, cool. I'll find some other way for her to hear it."
Brooks is the reigning CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year -- he won in 2016 and 2017 -- but is not nominated at this year's awards. Even so, he said prior to the ceremony that he was expecting it to "be a great night."
"The fact that I'm not nominated for Entertainer is gonna make it a much more fun night for me, to just sit and relax and enjoy all the acts," he said at the time. "I get to go with the love of my life and my best friend. We'll get all dressed up, and probably go to Taco Bell afterward."
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