"I Love You This Big" is the debut song by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' season 10 winner, Scotty McCreery. It was written by Brett James, Ester Dean, Jay "Saint" Smith and Lil' Ronnie Jackson, and was released in May 2011 as the first single from the album '' Clear as Day''. The song was first performed on the ''American Idol'' season 10 finale on May 24, 2011. The single was released to digital retailers after the final result show held on May 25, 2011. This song features backing vocals from Destinee & Paris.

Music video

A video for the song has been released. McCreery explained the video as "This is going to be kind of a nice little chill, summertime barbecue, kind of like a community thing on the Fourth of July." The music video was released on August 9, 2011. The video starts with McCreery and his band getting set up in daylight for a Fourth of July party to take place that night. Later, people begin showing up in groups to the party and setting up to watch the concert. That night McCreery is singing with his band for the concert. Meanwhile, the focus goes to four couples, a blonde, curly-haired girl looking for a guy and then finding him and hug, a blonde girl and a guy holding hands, talking and kissing, a black haired girl running into her guy friend and hugging and a blonde girl and a guy getting food, holding hands and talking. Fireworks go off in the air as McCreery goes into the key change, and the couples switch to watching the fireworks and the concert. McCreery's mother is featured in the video. It was filmed in Los Angeles at Andrews Point.

Composition

The song begins in the key of

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

with the final chorus in

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

. The video was directed by Shane Drake.

Commercial performance

"I Love You This Big" debuted at number 32 on the US ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart, following McCreery's win on ''American Idol''. This is the highest debut of any new Country artist since Neilsen’s inception on January 20, 1990. The song sold 171,404 units in its first week. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song debuted and peaked at number 11.Idol Chatter 08-22-2011
/ref> The song was certified Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on November 11, 2014. As of February, 2014, the song has sold 915,000 copies.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2011 debut singles 2011 songs Scotty McCreery songs Songs written by Ester Dean Songs written by Brett James Country ballads Song recordings produced by Mark Bright (record producer) Music videos directed by Shane Drake Mercury Nashville singles American Idol songs