Story Behind the Song: Ingrid Andress, ‘More Hearts Than Mine’

When Ingrid Andress set out to write "More Hearts Than Mine" -- a ballad about opening up to heartbreak by inviting a partner to meet your family in your hometown -- the vulnerability expressed in the song made her a little uncomfortable. In fact, she admits, it made her so uncomfortable that she thought flipping the narrative and writing a song about not wanting to meet a partner's family for fear of breaking their hearts instead. 

Fortunately, Andress' team of co-writers -- Derrick Southerland and Sam Ellis, two close friends with whom she also co-wrote "Lady Like" -- know her too well to let her chicken out of writing revealing lyrics. Below, Andress explains why being friends with her co-writers makes the songwriting process so much easier, and how Ellis and Southerland kept her from shying away from her vulnerable side in "More Hearts Than Mine."

We are all really good friends, and it's just easy to write with them, because we would hang out anyway if we weren't writing, so it's nice. It's just, like, "Oh, hey, do you wanna write a song today?" "Sure!" "Cool!"

Originally, the thought was the way the song is now, but then I didn't wanna be that vulnerable. I was like, "How about we do it where I'm the heartbreaker? That's more accurate." And they were like, "Can't you be vulnerable for two seconds?"

So I was like, "Fiiiine." I thought, "This was my original idea, so I should probably just stick with it and not make it something that it's not."

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