Songfacts®:

• "Now I Know" by Ingrid Andress is about being true to oneself and remaining committed to personal growth.
  
  In an interview with American Songwriter, Andress said the tune "started as more of like a relationship song, but after that incident [see below], the meaning of the song changed. It changed because then it's more of the 'now I know' and less about relationships. It's more about just life things in general, like growing and changing and realizing that staying with things that are safe doesn't necessarily mean it's always good for you. And when I say 'safe' I mean comfortable, like just coasting?"
  
  The "incident" Andress was referring to was her singing of the National Anthem at the 2024 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. Her voice cracked badly throughout, making a horrendous performance (by her own estimation as well as others). She caught heavy flak for it – to the point of harassment. She said the incident changed her and freed her from caring about people's opinions. She has also vowed to never sing the National Anthem again. She freely owned up to the performance but didn't think the hate she received was justified.
• The more Andress was pushed to talk about "Now I Know" in her American Songwriter interview, the more the song's meaning opened up. As she tried to express the feelings and concepts wrapped up in the autobiographical song, she revealed interesting details about her life. "I've moved a lot in my life," she said. "I'm like a nomad. My parents don't live in our hometown anymore. There's no home base really. And I feel like a lot of people that I meet in Nashville and in country music, everyone goes back home to the thing, like their childhood home that they've lived in before. And I've never known what that feels like. And so when I say, 'But I don't,' it's more of like, it's worked out in a way to where I can't stop growing. My life has worked out in a way to where I am continuously growing and changing. So when I say 'but I don't,' it's saying it's impossible to unknow things, you know? I can't go back to things that I already know. You can't unsee something, you can't unknow something."
• In the song's press release, Andress said the purpose of "Now I Know" was "to encourage myself and others to face and let go of the things that no longer serve us because we are capable of having the happiness we've imagined for ourselves."
• Andress co-wrote "Now I Know" with songwriter Sam Ellis and producer Derrick Southerland. The trio have worked together frequently over the course of Andress' career, writing her biggest hits, including "More Hearts Than Mine," "Lady Like," "Treated Me Good," and "Waste Of Time." Andress has said they taught her a lot about songwriting, as did her first songwriting mentor, the highly decorated Kara DioGuardi, who won the 2007 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year award.
• Andress released "Now I Know" as a single in 2026 ahead of her third album. "Writing this album, I realized how much I've grown in the fact that I don't mind saying those uncomfortable things anymore," she told American Songwriter. "Which is great because it shows that I'm trying and growing."