Why Chase Rice Says Writing FGL's 'Cruise' Was A 'Blessing, Curse'

Chase Rice is one of the writers behind “one of the biggest country songs of all time.”

It was ”the biggest blessing and curse.”

Rice, 40, caught up with Joel Madden, 47, on a new episode of Artist Friendly, a podcast that features in-depth conversations with the Good Charlotte star and other singer-songwriters. During their conversion, Rice reflected on writing “Cruise,” Florida Georgia Line’s smash-hit debut single that arrived in 2012. Rice penned the anthem with the duo’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, plus Joey Moi and Jesse Rice. “Cruise” remains one of FGL’s biggest hits (including the genre-blending remix featuring Nelly). Hubbard and Kelley performed that song and “Round Here” during a surprise reunion at the Country Music Association’s CMA Fest last month in Nashville, Tennessee (Rice said at one point on the podcast, “I think they’re gonna get back together, which is sick”).

Rice told Madden, “and even when we wrote years ago, like, I joked, I was like, I had no idea what I was doing. I really didn’t,” he said in a clip shared on Instagram. “I wrote ‘Cruise’ when I was 26 years old, 27 years old, which ended up being one of the biggest country songs of all time. That was the biggest blessing and curse that I could’ve asked for because I had a massive hit, everybody wants to be in the room with you now, and we didn’t mean to write that. We just stumbled across it and it became this massive thing that I all of a sudden now have to live up to. And for 10 years, that shaped, ‘oh, I gotta do that again.’ I gotta sound like this. Florida Georgia Line’s blowing up. I wanna blow up. I gotta make my sound like theirs. Sam Hunt’s blowing up. Oh, OK, now I’m gonna go try to sound like that. Morgan Wallen’s blowing up. Oh, now you gotta sound like that. Where my true joy in music started was when I sat on a couch again, 10 years after all that, with a guitar and wrote a song that only I could write. And then I wrote an album that only I could write. And then recorded the album that only I could record. And turn I did that three times, and they’re continuing to evolve. But it’s turned into like, I’m the only human on the planet who could make this music.”

Rice’s latest song to release is “Connie Lou,” an anthem he wrote with Dan Couch and Oscar Charles for his mother. “Connie Lou” tells the story about how Rice’s parents met, “and that love story from the '70s,” he told iHeartCountry before he delivered the surprise debut performance this spring in Nashville. “I think she's happy with the song. She's happy with the story, and she's happy that it's not a sad song for a change.” Rice delved into emotional stories on his latest projects, including 2025’s ELDORA, 2024’s Go Down Singin’, and 2023’s I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell.

Rice also spoke about other moments in his musical career, opened up about memories of his late father, offered advice to rising artists and much more. Listen to the full Artist Friendly conversation between Rice and Madden on iHeartRadio here (warning: language).