{"id":1873907,"date":"2026-04-09T12:59:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1873907"},"modified":"2026-04-09T12:59:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:59:53","slug":"jacob-hackworth-gets-a-long-look-with-his-mca-debut-there-was-something-in-the-room-that-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1873907","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Hackworth Gets a \u2018Long\u2019 Look With His MCA Debut: \u2018There Was Something in the Room That Day\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jacob-Hackworth-CR-Logan-Domer-Billboard-1800-.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s built like he could move your couch but sounds like he could heal your childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMCA Nashville senior VP of promotion Miranda McDonald highlighted Jacob Hackworth\u2019s contrasts during Country Radio Seminar (CRS), introducing him to attendees in a lunchtime label showcase at the Ryman Auditorium on March 19. His appearance mirrored her description, and the song he sang \u2013 his inaugural MCA single, \u201cWhat Took You So Long\u201d \u2013 was full of contrast, too, its classic-country chorus melody riding atop an alt-rock set of chords.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerforming for an influential room of influential broadcasters was intimidating \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t know if I blacked out a couple times in the middle of it or not,\u201d Hackworth quips in retrospect \u2013 but he made a connection with the audience that day that he was able to build upon as he continued a radio promotion tour the following week.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cThey have definitely brought up CRS and the Ryman show,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat Took You So Long\u201d seemed to captivate the room at CRS, but that\u2019s not unusual \u2013 it\u2019s won people over from the day it was written, Jan. 22, 2025. Big Machine writer-producer Daniel Ross (\u201cFriday Night Heartbreaker,\u201d \u201cLies Lies Lies\u201d) hosted the appointment with Hackworth, Jaxson Free (\u201cAfter All the Bars Are Closed,\u201d \u201cThank God\u201d) and Steph Jones (\u201chole in the bottle,\u201d \u201cEspresso\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tNeither Hackworth nor Free had fully developed their artist paths at the time, so the goal was simply to write the best song possible. And they did.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was something in the room that day,\u201d Jones says. \u201cI think it was Diet Coke. We all share a big love for fridge cigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tRoss introduced the alt-rock-flavored track \u2014 \u201cI sort of naturally lean towards a darker thing,\u201d he says \u2014 and everyone was on board. It was trickier than it sounds: the logistics between the first two chords aren\u2019t actually well-suited to a typical fretboard.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou can\u2019t actually play it on guitar,\u201d Ross says. \u201cI had to do it in two parts, so I did the first part of the riff, and then I tuned the bottom string way down to be able to reach that [second] note.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoss also offered a two-word title, \u201cSo Long,\u201d that they batted around a bit, ultimately stretching it into something larger. Jones came up with a hook that fit the dark undertow \u2013 \u201cWhat took you so long to tell me goodbye?\u201d \u2013 in a plot about a couple that raced into commitment, only to have it come crashing down with no real warning.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love a question as a title personally,\u201d Jones says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey built the entire chorus around a series of questions that go frustratingly unanswered. While the lyrics matched the music\u2019s mood, the phrasing \u2013 dominated by long, melancholy notes \u2013 took an opposite tack. \u201cThe guitar progression is kind of grimy,\u201d Hackworth notes, \u201cbut then that melody over the top of it is just so silky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs they put together the first verse, they gave it more contrast, using faster-paced phrasing to provide some separation from the chorus\u2019 held notes. But it also reflected the speed of the relationship the song represented.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were like, \u2018Okay, well, if we\u2019re going to do all long notes in the hook, the verses have to be really fast \u2013 like choppy \u2013 just to convey the emotion of \u2018We moved really fast, we had all these plans going,\u2019\u201d Free recalls. \u201cThen when that chorus hits the long notes, you feel the story even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first verse illustrated that the couple had been talking marriage, though it never comes out and says that directly. The second verse needed to express the singer\u2019s anger that the relationship was prolonged unnecessarily. After tossing a few ideas around, Jones came up with a line that floored the rest of the crew: \u201cThere\u2019s a real short line from the back of your mind to the tip of your tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s no giant inspiration for that,\u201d she says. \u201cIt just came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe rest of the write went smoothly from there. Jones and Free both had to split, which left Hackworth to sing on the demo. He wrapped himself in the story and caught all the nuances of the song\u2019s anger and disappointment with a sense of authenticity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis vibrato is so tasteful,\u201d says Ross, who produced the demo. \u201cThe way that he [captures emotion], I don\u2019t think it\u2019s cerebral at all for him. Sometimes, I don\u2019t think he knows when he does it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoss built it out in a way that framed Hackworth\u2019s vocals. He used several effects to create depth in the production and gave it a sense of motion by introducing a new instrument, or by changing the tone of an existing one, about every eight bars. Ross also enlisted a woman who sings at his church, Olivia Abdou<\/strong>, to join him on background vocals.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoss was, at the time, producing Conner Smith, who showed up to track his own vocals when Ross was working on \u201cWhat Took You So Long.\u201d Smith asked to hear it four times, then asked if he could cut it, and since neither Free nor Hackworth were in artist mode yet, they let Smith take it. Hackworth ended up writing with Smith about a week later, and Smith essentially gave it back.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI walked in,\u201d Hackworth recalls, \u201cand he just walks up to me, and he goes, \u2018Bro, that\u2019s your song, man. I loved the way that I sounded on it, but you can definitely tell that that\u2019s yours.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s just,\u201d Hackworth adds, \u201cone of the best guys ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSongwriter Jessie Jo Dillon (\u201c10,000 Hours,\u201d \u201cAm I Okay?\u201d) had co-written another song, \u201cBad As I Do,\u201d that Hackworth released independently in December. She took it to MCA chief creative officer Dave Cobb, just to make him aware, and Cobb gave Hackworth a surprise call that lasted 30 minutes. \u201cIn a matter of a week,\u201d Hackworth says, \u201cI had a deal from MCA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn their first official meeting, he played them \u201cWhat Took You So Long,\u201d and suddenly, MCA had moved on from \u201cBad As I Do.\u201d Hackworth\u2019s performance and Ross\u2019 production were so well-suited that the label asked him not to make any major changes to the demo. Ross did hire guitarist Derek Wells to layer in a baritone guitar and provide atmospheric sounds. And he brought in drummer Aaron Sterling, who was sensitive to the song\u2019s emotionality.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe tracked on a smaller kit, and not one of his big, loud, massive ones,\u201d Ross says. \u201cThe tones needed, in my opinion, to stay small \u2013 not necessarily wimpy, but they needed to be delicate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe moody character and universal message of \u201cWhat Took You So Long\u201d seemed to work for everyone involved, including Free, who heard an almost-finished version of it while he was in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHack sold it so well,\u201d Free says. \u201cI really felt it, because I\u2019ve been in a relationship like that before. And I was like, \u2018Holy fuck.\u2019 I almost started crying at my hotel, at the pool deck, because I was like, \u2018This feels so special.\u2019 I feel like a lot of people are gonna hear this and it\u2019s gonna help people feel like they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMCA and Goat Island released it to country radio via PlayMPE about an hour before the March 19 Ryman performance with an official add date of April 27. But it\u2019s already airing on numerous stations, including KMLE Phoenix, WGKX Memphis and KAYD Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe world at large is responding as Hackworth\u2019s team had hoped.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes,\u201d Hack says, \u201cit happens like it\u2019s supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Billboard<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/country\/jacob-hackworth-what-took-you-so-long-makin-tracks-1236218175\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jacob-Hackworth-CR-Logan-Domer-Billboard-1800-.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard \u201cHe\u2019s built like he could move your couch but sounds like he could heal your childhood.\u201d MCA Nashville senior VP of promotion Miranda McDonald highlighted Jacob Hackworth\u2019s contrasts during Country Radio Seminar (CRS), introducing him to attendees in a lunchtime label showcase at the Ryman Auditorium on March 19. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1873907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1873907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1873907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1873907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1873907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}