Cody Johnson said patience was the name of the game when it came to recording and releasing his current Carrie Underwood collaboration “I’m Gonna Love You.”

Written by Chris Stevens, Kelly Archer, and Travis Denning, “I’m Gonna Love You” is the lead single from Johnson’s Leather Deluxe Edition, which came out last week.

Johnson is friends with Denning and has known about the song for years through him. Underwood planned to record it at one point, but the heartfelt piano ballad returned to Johnson. Johnson needed a duo partner, and Underwood was the only name on his list.

“I was like, ‘It’s Carrie Underwood or nobody,” Johnson said. “I just heard her voice. I could already hear it.”

He wanted “I’m Gonna Love You” to anchor the original version of Leather that he released last year but said it “just wasn’t feasible.”

“Whenever you are working with a star of Carrie’s caliber, there’s a lot of logistics that goes into that as far as timing,” Johnson said. “There was a lot of logistics just to even make sure that we could record the song, period. But I’ve loved this song for a really long time.”

Cody Johnson Said Releasing Carrie Underwood Duet Before Now Wasn’t Feasible

Johnson has had the song ready to go since Leather debuted last year.

“I’ve been sitting on this the entire time going, ‘God, I just want to show the world this song,’” he said.

Johnson credited Warner Music Nashville’s Cris Lacy with splitting the 25 songs he recorded for Leather into two halves of the same whole. He didn’t want to record another double album on the heels of Human because he felt some songs didn’t get the attention they deserved in the exhaustive tracklist.

“There was a lot about that album that got skipped over because there was so much content,” he said. “How many times have you been to a restaurant where the menu is six pages long (in small print)? You’re looking like, ‘I have no idea what I want to eat.’”

When Lacy suggested the deluxe edition, Johnson was confused. He thought deluxe versions were only for one or two extra songs. But Lacy explained he could take the opportunity to do something special.

Knowing he had 25 songs to place between the two collections, Johnson looked for commonalities between the songs and created two different lists. If all goes well, Johnson said, both versions of Leather will work together to score him a platinum album. In hindsight, being unable to release “I’m Gonna Love You” until recently worked in his favor.

Cody Johnson Explains Benefits Of Waiting To Release “I’m Gonna Love You”

“I think it turned out better to wait,” he explained. “It kind of gave this deluxe addition just a little bit more flare. I don’t think it would’ve been as special if it would’ve been on the first part.”

He said a fan response to the song was exactly what he’d imagined.

“I know how big this song is, first before you put me on it and then before you put Carrie on it,” Johnson said. “In my opinion, I feel like it’s big enough that it could even maybe be a pop crossover type song, like a big iconic thing.”

Johnson predicted “I’m Gonna Love You” could be a timeless and enduring wedding song.

“We didn’t really know how big it was until Carrie and I sang it together in the studio, and we were both like, ‘This is a big damn song,” he said. “I think this song could be bigger than country music in itself. I want it to be just its own thing. When Carrie and her team approved it, I could finally breathe.  I’m really proud of it.”