Songfacts®:

• "Kid Myself" is John Morgan's rueful reflection on a past relationship that he believes might have lasted if he'd been emotionally ready to commit. The title plays on a double meaning: Morgan was "just a kid" when he let the relationship slip away, but he also knows better than to "kid himself" into thinking she's coming back.
• Morgan described the track as an apology letter to a girl he left behind in North Carolina before moving to Nashville. Looking back, he sees her as the one who got away, admitting he simply wasn't mature enough to be the partner she deserved. Rather than wallowing, the song focuses on self-forgiveness, acknowledging past mistakes while owning up to the pain he caused someone else.
• Morgan co-wrote "Kid Myself" with Tyler Hubbard (of Florida Georgia Line fame) and Nashville songwriter and producer Jordan Schmidt, whose credits include Blake Shelton's "God's Country" and Lainey Wilson's "Watermelon Moonshine."
  
  Nervous about showing up to his first writing session with Hubbard on June 8, 2024, without a solid idea, Morgan combed through his phone notes the night before and landed on the phrase "Kid Myself." Struck by the contrast between "I was just a kid myself" and "I don't want to kid myself," he built an acoustic guitar progression to match the regretful mood.
  
  The next day, the trio fleshed out the song at Schmidt's home studio, building the chorus around the title's dual meaning. "I don't think he had the whole chorus sussed out," Hubbard told Billboard. "But he definitely had enough of an idea, concept and melody to get us going, to really hang the dartboard and give us a direction to shoot toward."
• When Jason Aldean, whose Night Train Records partnership is involved in Morgan's career, heard the vocal demo, he urged him to make "Kid Myself" the follow-up to Morgan's breakthrough hit, "Friends Like That."
• Producer Brent Anderson cut the final track with Morgan between tour dates. Starting with scratch drum and bass parts at Anderson's home studio, they layered different guitars and keyboards before bringing in Morgan's touring rhythm section - bassist Caleb Bates and drummer Rob Ricotta - to re-record the rhythm section.
  
  Morgan took a hands-on approach, playing acoustic, electric, and 12-string guitars, as well as mandolin. Anderson added more guitars, mandolin, banjo, keyboards, Dobro, bouzouki, and backing vocals. Rounding out the session were Mike Johnson on pedal steel and Lydia Vaughan on backing vocals.
• Track 8 on Morgan's debut album, Carolina Blue, "Kid Myself" shows a quieter, more personal side of his songwriting compared to the upbeat, party-ready vibe of "Friends Like That."
• The music video keeps the emphasis on Morgan and the song's narrative rather than adding an elaborate storyline of its own. A later acoustic-style "Stripped Sessions" performance strips the arrangement back further, putting the focus on the reflective lyric and the guitar-based foundation of a song about realizing, perhaps a little too late, that being young is an explanation, but not always an excuse.