Songfacts®:

• Prior to recording "The Thing That Wrecks You," a dark ballad about a destructive romance, Lady Antebellum had never had a guest vocalist on their songs. This time, they had four: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook of Little Big Town.
  
  Lady A was itching to collaborate with their labelmates and sent them two songs to consider - one of them was a demo of this tune sung by up-and-coming country star Tenille Townes, who co-wrote the track with Nashville songwriters Kate York ("I Will Fall") and Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour). The country-pop quartet was blown away.
  
  "They flipped out over 'The Thing That Wrecks You,'" Lady A singer Charles Kelley recalled. "And so to put together seven voices on one song was such an interesting, fun challenge. It's definitely an art piece on the record."
• By the time Ocean dropped in 2019, Tenille Townes was already making a name for herself with a pair of #1 singles on the Canadian Country chart: "Somebody's Daughter" and "Jersey On The Wall (I'm Just Asking)."
  
  In 2023, she recorded a new version of "The Thing That Wrecks You" as a duet with Bryan Adams, who brought his own ideas to the song and earned a writing credit.
  
  Townes told Songfacts of the tune in a 2023 interview: "In a lot of ways, it's just the wreckage of someone who brings out the best and worst in you. I think you grow together through that."
• Although Lady A's version wasn't released as a single, it was a key part of the album, according to the group's Hillary Scott. She explained on the band's YouTube channel: "You're always looking for those really artistic statements to round out an album, and this was one that we were like, we know that it's lyrically dark, but it's so honest and vulnerable and fit the rest of the record and was just a great art piece."
• Singer/guitarist Dave Haywood was particularly impressed by watching Little Big Town work out their harmonies in the studio. He recalled: "They came in, they were all set up singing at the same time, separated by a little sound wall. So visually it was so cool, and to watch them work out their parts. I mean, we do this everyday working out three-part harmony - they're working out four-part harmony in addition to the three parts we already had. So it was kind of like a master class in vocal parts and arrangements and like a theory class that day."
• Ocean yielded two Top 10 singles on the US Country chart: "What If I Never Get Over You" and "Champagne Night." The title track also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance in 2021 but lost to Dan + Shay's "10,000 Hours."