Songfacts®:

• Here, Kane Brown teams with R&B singer H.E.R. for an uplifting bluesy anthem about showing appreciation for life and liberty amid hard times.
  
  Cause as long as my eyes still see
  As long as my heart still beats
  As long as I'm alive, I'm free
• H.E.R. wrote the soulful ode to self-preservation with Russ Chell, Ilsey Juber, and the Take A Daytrip production duo. She told Billboard the meaning of the track for her is that in hard times, you can still be thankful for the process. "We're always trying to get somewhere, but I think what makes it more special is the journey, and being grateful for strength, being grateful for still moving forward even in times where you're in doubt... knowing no matter what happens," she explained, "I'm still blessed and free."
  
  Brown said the track reminded him of one silver lining during the pandemic: He had a year of watching his baby daughter, Kingsley, grow and start walking. He would have missed many of those moments had he been away from home touring.
• Though Brown sees himself principally as a country artist, he often collaborates with artists outside the genre. Other examples include:
  
  2019 - with Marshmello on "One Thing Right"
  
  2020 - with John Legend on "Last Time I Say Sorry"
  
  2020 - with Swae Lee and Khald on "Be Like That"
  
  2021 - with Blackbear on "Memory"
• H.E.R has dipped her toes into the country music before. She teamed with Nashville artist Chris Stapleton to perform her Back of My Mind track "Hold On" at the 2021 CMT Music Awards.
• The song shares a name with Brown's Blessed & Free Tour, which kicked off October 1, 2021 in Sacramento, California, just one day after he released the track as a single.
• Director Alex Alvga shot the minimalist video in black and white. It focuses on Brown and H.E.R. performing the song amid an unostentatious but artistic backdrop.
• According to an interview with American Songwriter, Kane Brown was originally going to shelf "Blessed & Free," until H.E.R jumped on it without him knowing. She wrote her own verse, and when Brown listened to her contribution, his reaction was, "Oh, hell yeah, this slaps."