A Breakthrough singer! Chrissy Metz wowed the crowd at the 2019 Academy of Country Music Awards with her performance of “I’m Standing With You” from her film Breakthrough, and at the movie’s Hollywood premiere on Thursday, April 11, the This Is Us star exclusively told Us Weekly she’s eager to get back into the recording studio to work on “an EP or an album.”
“I would love that. I absolutely would love that,” the 38-year-old said. “I have a bunch [of songs] sitting around.”
As for potential collaborators, the actress told Us she hopes to reteam with Diane Warren, the songwriter behind “I’m Standing With You.”
For her part, Warren, 62, raved about her experience working with Metz. “It was great,” she exclusively told Us. “I had to be convinced for her to do my song. I wanted a bigger star to do it and they go, ‘No, Chrissy’s in the movie.’ And I kinda fought it, and then they go, ‘Just try it.’”
Warren eventually agreed and left for three hours while Metz worked on the vocals with producer Kyle Townsend. “I didn’t want to stay in there and have any negativity ‘cause I thought, ‘I’m a really bad liar.’ … So I wanted to leave and then come back. And if it wasn’t right, I don’t know what I would have said.”
Happily, the 10-time Oscar nominee was “absolutely blown away” by the results. “It was better than I could’ve imagined,” she told Us. “She’s the real deal. She’s a real singer. … It was so great that I was like, ‘I don’t want anybody else on this song but her.’”
Warren also praised Metz for “[blowing] the roof off the ACMs” on Sunday, April 7, when the actress performed alongside Carrie Underwood, Maddie & Tae, Lauren Alaina and Mickey Guyton. “That was a ballsy move ‘cause she’d never sung in front of people,” the songwriter added. “And with those singers, she held her own, man. She was great.”
Warren told Us that Metz “should do a record” and that she would like to “do a bunch” of songs for the American Horror Story alum.
“She’s really great,” Warren continued. “And she’s so believable. You can’t train someone to be believable. You can train someone to sing, [but] you can’t train them to touch you and to be real. And that’s what I think comes across as her, as an actress and as a singer. She’s real. She’s you and me.”
With reporting by Nicole Pajer
