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Cole Swindell was “overwhelmed by the response” from social media commenters — including fans and fellow artists and songwriters — when he shared a clip of a heartfelt ballad.
Swindell wrote “Make Heaven Crowded” with Greylan James, Joel Hutsell and Blake Pendergrass. James and Zach Abend teamed up to produce it. The country star, who welcomed Baby No. 1 with wife Courtney Little Swindell earlier this year, said Erika Kirk’s speech after losing her husband and conservative activist Charlie Kirk led him to write the song. He teased it on social media and, after reading reactions from fans, officially released it on Friday (September 26).
“Being a new dad with a fresh perspective on the world, I was inspired by Erika’s speech,“ Swindell said in a statement in a press release on Friday (September 26). “A phrase I had heard before but I hadn’t heard it in a moment like that. It literally stopped me in my tracks and ultimately moved me to write ‘Make Heaven Crowded.’ The heartbreak I felt, and still feel, for her and their kids was so heavy thinking about my wife and baby girl. I knew I had to get those feelings out of my heart and head and down on paper. But when I released a social clip of performing a few of the lyrics, the response was unlike any reaction I’ve ever had to a song. It’s truly amazing what music is able to do, especially when real life inspires it. Writing songs has always been something that has helped me express thoughts and feelings and I don’t know if folks know how much it helps me when it connects and I know I am not alone in those same fears and feelings. This may be the most important song of my career, and I’m OK with that.”
Swindell also spotlighted his co-writers, and added, “as songwriters I feel like it’s our job to try to put things into words that could help someone.”
Swindell was one of many artists in the country community to pay tribute to Kirk after his death on September 10. He was 31. Others included Jason Aldean and wife Brittany Aldean, Lauren Alaina, Kane Brown, Lee Brice and more. Listen to Swindell’s “Make Heaven Crowded” here: