As a rising country star who launched his career as a songwriter (penning hits made famous by the likes of Luke Bryan and Thomas Rhett), Cole Swindell knows what it means to trust another artist with his compositions. That's why he's honored to be the performer of the moving ballad "Break Up in the End," which scored the team of writers Jon Nite, Jessie Jo Dillon and Chase McGill a nomination for Best Country Song at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

"This song, it hit me hard enough to make me want to record it, make me wish I hadn't lived it, wished I had written it," Swindell tells Taste of Country and other media. "To have written most of my singles, that's a blessing, but for people to believe in you enough to give you a song that means the world to them—and I know how that feels—it's even more special."

"Break Up in the End" marks Swindell's eighth No. 1 single and the only one he didn't write, but he's humbled to sing the emotional track. It not only earned McGill and Dillon their second nominations and Nite's first, but it also resonated with Swindell personally.

"I think this one means just as much or more than any of [my own compositions]," he shares. "Even getting the song to the top of the charts, I had never felt like that. It'd been one thing if I had written it, but the fact they trusted me with it, I wanted to get it to the top."

The hit-making country star acknowledges that the Grammys are the pinnacle in musical honors, as he recalls a memory from before he moved to Nashville and was at the home of songwriter Hillary Lindsey and saw the Grammy Award for a song she'd penned for Carrie Underwood sitting on the wall. "I remember just seeing that and being like 'I just want to write a song. Grammy, that might not ever be in my future," he reflects.

"To be a part of this and sing a song that the writers wrote and be nominated as a Grammy, I just love representing this genre," he adds. "We're always well represented there, but to be kind of a small part of it, it's amazing. A Grammy nomination, nobody can ever take that away."

The 2019 Grammy Awards air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles Sunday (Feb. 10) at 8PM ET on CBS. The ceremony includes a tribute to country legend Dolly Parton, with Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town and pop acts Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Shawn Mendes set to participate.

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