Chrissy Metz Has a Passion for Songwriting, Nashville and Her New Man

When Chrissy Metz made the crucial decision to pursue music, she was quick to find a new passion for songwriting. In those writing rooms, she not only found fellow songwriters who shared her passion, but she also found a safe place to be honest and raw, truthful and authentic, playful and serious.

In short, she found a new form of herself.

But never did she envision finding love there too.

“He’s an angel,” Metz tells American Songwriter in a revealing new interview about new music, her new ways and her new man. “We both have blue eyes and heart shaped faces, so everyone comments on that. (Laughs.) It’s just so nice to not only be in a relationship, but in a relationship with someone I consider a true friend.”

That true friend goes by the name of Bradley Collins, a vital member of the Nashville music community who formerly served as an Executive Director at BMI for over 16 years before stepping away from the post in 2018.

“We knew all the same people,” remembers Metz, who willingly admits to being ‘a sucker for love.’ “It definitely had me thinking, ‘why did we not hook up earlier?’ (Laughs.) It all happened when it was supposed to. Timing is everything.”

Indeed, timing has always seemed to be on Metz’s side, bother personally and professionally. Getting her first big break playing the role of Kate Pearson on the tear-jerker of a show This is Us, the award-winning actress and now recording artist has long been one of those ‘at the right place at the right time’ kind of people.

But yes, the chance to pursue music was far from a given.

“I’m so grateful that I get to showcase both aspects of me right now, both as the actress and the singer/songwriter,” remarks Metz, who bought a home in Nashville last February. “I have such a great life because not everyone gets to do what they have always wanted to do, but I do.”

But before you rush to the assumption that Metz lives this semi-charmed life without a problem in sight, think again.

“I don’t care who you are…we all have our things to go through,” says Metz, who turned 40 years old this past September.  “I mean, life still happens. You have to appreciate the good and work through the trying times.”

It’s this common juxtaposition of feelings that Metz seems to convey beautifully from a musical standpoint, as she has spent a good deal of the pandemic-tainted year releasing new music such as “Actress” and “Talking to God,” that runs the gamut between inspirational to divine to fun to down right declarative.

One of those declarations can be heard loud and clear in her single “Feel Good,” which in part tells the story of someone who always seems to put other people first.

“It’s really my story,” admits Metz, who made her Grand Ole Opry debut back in July. “I’ve learned that in therapy. Thank God for therapy.”

She laughs again, and continues. 

“So much of my life has been lived for other people,” explains Metz, who says she hopes to at least have an EP to release early next year. “It’s about getting to that point in your life where you decide that you once again want to put yourself first and do what makes you. You are never in control of other people’s feelings. Its about taking your power back and its about growth and it’s about the power of no. I just want to do what I want to do. To my own detriment, I always seem to put people before me.”

And she’s not the only one.

The writing session that ended up creating “Feel Good” was a crowded one, with fellow songwriters Nicolette Hayford, Connie Herrington, Aaron Raitiere and Jake Mitchell all weighing in to the overall feel and meaning of the song.

“I have a little bit of sass to me, so honestly, when we first started writing, we were just having fun and playing around with the title,” Metz said of the song that was written last year, long before the onslaught of the pandemic. “It all really stemmed from talking about how I was feeling that day. It’s all about living in the moment and writing from where you are at.”

And while admittedly still in the infancy stage when it comes to songwriting, Metz says she has learned that her best writing comes when she writes from a place of what she is feeling at that exact moment.

“Life is short,” she says quietly. “We have no time to not be our true selves.”