ABC/Randy HolmesJust days after dropping his highly-anticipated sophomore project, Southside, Sam Hunt is offering some insights into his songwriting process in a new interview with songwriting giant Shane McAnally.

Their conversation is the first installment of Shane’s new Instagram series, Behind the Hit, which features conversations with artists with whom he's written about the writing sessions that led to some of their best-known songs.

Sam recalls that “Hard to Forget” started as an idea that remained unfinished well into the process of recording Southside. Still, he always knew that he wanted to come back to the track.

“I just felt like that idea was too good to let by the wayside,” the singer remembers.

Shane adds that early on, the song was much darker and more introspective than it wound up being in the recorded version. Over the process of writing it, they changed almost everything about “Hard to Forget,” except for its hook.

Another important piece of the song is its sampling of Webb Pierce’s “There Stands the Glass.” Sam says that the idea to include that tune came from co-writer Luke Laird, and instantly changed the vision he had for his new song.

“He plays and I immediately was like, ‘Okay, we gotta scrap what we’re doing, we gotta work on this track,’” the singer explains. “Because we’d talked about finding a way to sample an old country song before, but to me, this hit me as the perfect song to sample.”

“Hard to Forget” is Southside’s second single, following the chart-topping “Kinfolks.”

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