Riley Green wanted to be more romantic in the ‘Worst Way,’ but then he hesitated

When you think of Riley Green‘s latest #1, “Worst Way,” its steamy video starring the athlete from Alabama probably comes to mind.

Although Riley wrote it in an attempt to be more romantic, once it was done, he was hesitant. 

“I just think I write a lot of sad songs, you know, and a lot of ballad, story type songs,” he tells ABC Audio. “And I just don’t have a lot of love songs. I thought, ‘Man, I need to really try to dig into that.'”

“So I wrote it and I remember sitting on it for a while,” he reveals. “Kinda like, ‘I don’t know,’ and finally cut it and it just, it raised its hand and became a big hit for me.”

Riley also made a memorable video for a very different song on the Don’t Mind If I Do album, “Jesus Saves.” He wrote it after an interaction with an unhoused man got him thinking. 

“There’s a lot of topics in that song that are real-life situations,” he says. “And when you listen to it, you kinda follow that story of this guy. It’ll tug at you a little bit, man. It does me anyway.”  

Riley continues on the Damn Country Music Tour this summer, before heading overseas for eight sold-out shows in the U.K. and Ireland this fall.