Songfacts®:

• Ashley Cooke wrote this song in October 2022, the morning after making her debut at the Grand Ole Opry. She was surrounded by flowers and bottles of champagne her friends and associated had sent to congratulate her, but what was really important that morning was watching the sunset with her boyfriend. It didn't work out with him, but the song serves as a reminder that what's really important in life is the people around you.
• Cooke usually writes with others, but "Next To You" she wrote solo at the kitchen counter of her apartment. You'll notice she offers lots of specific details in the lyric, like the Tecovas cowboy boots by the door. That's a hallmark of her songwriting.
• The song didn't do much damage when it was released on Cooke's album Shot In The Dark in 2023, but many discovered it three years later after she performed it on the second episode of the Yellowstone spinoff Marshals, "Zone of Death," which aired on March 8, 2026. She shows up in a bar scene performing the song.
  
  "That was the most random 24 hours of my life," Cooke told American Songwriter about doing the show. "I went out to LA to do some PR stuff, but also to write for this new record. And Lauren Hungate - fricking love that girl - I brought her out with me to LA to write with some new co-writers out in California, like pop-leaning people. We wrote 'High School Sweetheart,' and right after 'High School Sweetheart' was written, I got a call from my team saying, 'Hey, I know we have sessions for the rest of the week, but this brand new Yellowstone TV show wants you to fly to Utah tomorrow to be on this show.' I was like, 'What show? What's happening?' Because it wasn't announced yet at this point. It wasn't even out yet. And I was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.' So I wiped the rest of the calendar, apologized to Lauren, flew out there, and they wanted me to sing this deep cut off my first record called 'Next To You,' which I wrote by myself in 15 minutes the morning after my Grand Ole Opry debut. Well, then I get the call that they want me to play my solo written deep cut on Marshals. And I'm like, 'Are you sure of this song?' And so I did. Just believe in your songs. You never know."