INTERVIEW: Sugarland on New Single 'Still The Same' & Reuniting In Studio

After revealing their reunion in November, Sugarland is officially back! But, maybe they never left -- maybe they're "Still The Same." 

It's been seven years since Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush released an album together as beloved country duo Sugarland. But now, fans have a brand new single from the pair called "Still The Same." 

"Still The Same" tells the story of a two people reuniting and moving forward together. In fact, at the end of the second verse, Jennifer sings "Picking back up where we left off, this is lift off." Meanwhile, in the soaring chorus, Jennifer and Kristian sing, "I feel alive/And can we try to leave it better than how it came?/Don't be afraid to change/Our love is still the same, still the same, still the same/Here we are/We've come so far/Let's it leave it better than how it came/Don't be afraid to change/Our love is still the same."

The song's sentiment is reflective of this current Sugarland reunion, and during an exclusive interview with iHeartRadio, Kristian explains, "The best story is the story that's the truth. So, that's what it's like. We've always kind of done that. From 'Baby Girl' to the truth of 'God, is this ever going to work? How many times do we have to try, and if it does work ever, which probably from here it won't, could we ever pay our parents back?' Why wouldn't we sit, years later, next to each other and say 'What does this feel like? And there was magic there. right? Yeah, oh my gosh, it's still the same.'"

And later on, Kristian tells us, "Exactly what you're hearing is exactly what we were feeling in that moment. Like, 'what's this like? Where've you been? How are you feeling? What has happened since I last saw you?'"

The last time Sugarland released an album was 2010's The Incredible Machine. Since then, both Jennifer and Kristian pursued solo endeavors, and it seems that now is the right timing to create new Sugarland music together. Jenner explains:

"I think, a lot of people when they ask us, 'how did you guys come back together?' I think they want some sort of magical, skies are opening up moment, in terms of like, 'and then this happened, and suddenly we knew! And it was time.' But, what we have said is we never closed that door. So if you don't close the door, you can always walk through it. And what we've said to our fans the whole time is when and if we get ready, we'll do this again. So now, here we are. The stars were aligning, timing wise, between different projects that we had going on."

Jennifer adds "What we found was too, I think, and the beautiful part of art imitating life, and especially as writers and writing what you know is, in terms of how we work together, in some ways, yes, we've grown and evolved, and in many ways, we're still the same. We picked right back up where we left off." 

If you're excited for this long-awaited Sugarland return, you're not alone. Kristian recalls being at the CMAs, where he and Jennifer were there to present the award for Vocal Duo of the Year (which they've won five consecutive times). In one instance, Bush remembers seeing a very excited Luke Bryan when the duo appeared on stage. "[Jennifer] kinda hinted towards us doing something in the script, and Luke Byran shot up out of his seat, like, 'Yeah!' And then he realized he was in the front row and had to sit back down. He's like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed,'" he explains. "And it just reminded me that everybody's a fan. Everybody, of whatever it is your'e a fan of. And people are fans of us. I'm excited for them, and for us."

Meanwhile, during a recent interview with Bobby Bones, Jennifer and Kristian both remember what Brothers Osbourne asked them when they were presented the award for CMA Vocal Duo of the Year.

Jennifer recalls, "We announced, on the CMAs, the award for Duo. Brothers Osbourne, they won, and when they came up, he said, 'Wait, are y'all really getting back together? Because this is competition!' Immediately asking that, on the stage." And Kristian adds, "And then, they just wouldn't give it up. They just kept asking, all the way off the stage. We were doing the, you know, pat 'em on the back, kinda walk-off. [They said], 'No really man, are y'all gonna do this? Because we need to know.'"


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