Champagne Night

Album: Ocean (Deluxe Edition) (2020)
Charted: 33
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Songfacts®:

  • Canadian country pop singer-songwriter Madeline Merlo originally wrote this song under the title of "I'll Drink to That" with Tina Parol, David Thomson and Patricia Conroy. She performed the tune on the first episode of the second season of the American songwriting competition series Songland, which aired April 13, 2020. Lady A were the episode's musical guests, and they chose "I'll Drink to That" as the song they wanted to record.

    The three Lady A members made adjustments to the lyrics with producer Shane McAnally and changed the title to "Champagne Night." The show's other judges, Ryan Tedder and Esther Dean, also get credits as co-writers on the song.
  • The song topped the American iTunes all-genre sales chart following its digital release. Noting its popularity, Lady A released "Champagne Night" to country radio on April 20, 2020, marking the first time a song from Songland has become a radio single.
  • The upbeat song finds Lady A's Hilary Scott and Charles Kelley singing of leaving behind the fancy parties and long-stem glasses for their hometown bar. They enjoy having their "champagne nights" there, drinking beer out of plastic cups. Lady A released the song amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping it might uplift during a hard time.

    "Music is an escape so I'm hoping everybody doesn't come out with really heavy songs," Charles Kelley told Radio.com's Steve Grunwald. "Sometimes you need a song like 'Champagne Night' that's just fun and makes you feel good during this time."
  • This wasn't the only lighthearted, alcohol-themed country song released during the pandemic. The success of such fun tunes as "Champagne Night" and Luke Bryan's "One Margarita" showed that people didn't want to be reminded all the time about the Covid heaviness.
  • Ester Dean became the second Black woman to reach the top of Billboard's Country Airplay chart as a songwriter when "Champagne Night" reached #1 in January 2021. The first Black woman to do so was Allison Randall, who co-wrote Trisha Yearwood's 1994 chart-topper "XXX's & OOO's (An American Girl)."

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