Sugarland - Stay

"The inspiration for it was, I heard Reba McEntire's 'Whoever's in New England,' and I thought, 'What a great song.'" Jennifer says. "I really liked the story of it. At the same time, it's a story that you hear a lot — the jilted lover, the one who has been cheated on. I thought, 'You know, in that situation, there are three people hurting. Ain't nobody really happy. What if you were bold enough to tell the story of that other woman, and what she feels like in loving someone that is not fully hers either and knowing that there's another woman that's hurting because she's in the picture?' That's complex, adult stuff. Ultimately, it's about the redemption of loving oneself enough to realize, 'I am worth more than this situation. We're all worth more than this situation, really.'"

Jennifer says she and partner Kristian Bush plan to keep digging even deeper lyrically in their next album. "I know I want this album to be even more authentic than the last," she says. "Authentic to where we want to be artistically, and authentic to the human spirit. I want it to be the next step, grabbing a piece of someone's heart and showing them themselves — 'Don't you feel this way? Can you feel this way? Have you felt this way? I feel this way.' Artistically I want it to be that.

"On another level, when that is true and the song rings true, then it's going to be successful," she continues. "People want to feel something. Even if it's a sad song, they want to feel validated that they themselves are understood, because someone says or sings what they feel. It is time to stretch, and we all know it. Fans know it. Nobody wants to hear the same thing over and over. People want something different. They're so bored with everything sounding the same."