CHASE MCDANIEL - Burned Down Heaven - Big Machine Records

Chase McDaniel has been very transparent about his past mental health struggles, not only during interviews with publications like ours but transparently through his songs, unashamedly opening his diary and providing encouragement with a non-judgmental shoulder to lean on.

Coming off an incredible 2024 that saw the release of his debut EP (Blame It On Country Music), his Grand Ole Opry debut, and back-to-back releases that set a powerful foundation for his next chapter (“Heart Still Works” and “Made It This Far”), the rising superstar now kicks off his new year by facing a mirror washed in heartbreak and regret.

“Burned Down Heaven,” a song he co-wrote with Jon Nite and Lindsay Rimes that he self-describes as “the most painful song I’ve ever written,” is available on all streaming and digital platforms via Big Machine Records. 

Layering the depth-filled tones of his baritone bravado against the underlying glide of the melody, a feeling of sorrow injects his observational lament that if he’s not in hell then he’s awfully close to it, confessing to God that he broke the heart of an angel while crying out in pain- ridden remorse, “what have I done?”

Lifting the edge of his voice into powerful strikes, the chorus allows the listener to feel like they’re living with him in the very moment that he falls to his knees and looks up, embracing his emotional strife while poetically adding definition to the internal turmoil that’s torturing him as he reaches out, seeking comfort through his hurting.

“Feels like I burned down Heaven in that driveway
I learned my lesson a few tears too late
Dropping words like matches, leaving her heart in ashes
I can't take it back no matter what I say
Feels like I burned down Heaven”

Utilizing the second half of the song to try and steady the shaky ground that his inward feelings stand upon, he grips the hard realities of his own shortcomings and the toll that he allowed them to take on her, outlining their breaking up as a fault solely of his own while searching the weighty question for an answer he already knows in his heart, “I shoulda stayed, why did I run?”

Reaching the stage of regret when the pain becomes so overwhelming that you hit your knees in desperation, Chase McDaniel’s “Burned Down Heaven” is every bit as confessional as it is prayer like, battling the struggled emotions in the aftermath of breaking someone else’s heart as your own choices leave yours fractured into a million shattered pieces and searching for healing.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis/Artwork c/o Big Machine Records)