The track is about 'the facade we put up' after a split, the singer-songwriter shares.
Brett Young is getting real about heartbreak.
"Breakups always seem to be unequally weighted, and everybody's probably been on both sides at some point or another in their life," Young tells ET, recalling the inspiration behind his heart-tugging song, "Left Side of Leaving."
Only ET has your first listen to an exclusive acoustic performance of the track, which is about the "interesting way that somebody who has their heart broken seems to behave after a breakup. ... They'll jump on social media and try to make themselves look like they're having the time of their lives and getting over it well, and just kinda the facade we put up in breakups."
The song was co-written by Young with Jimmy Robbins and John Nite.
"The recording process was kinda surreal because I already loved the song, but to watch the best players in Nashville come together and bring the song to life and raise it to that next level, it was really special," Young says of the initial recording process.
"Left Side of Leaving" is featured on Young's debut, self-titled album, which is out now via Big Machine Records.
"I'm a songwriter first and I wanted so badly for there to be this consistent theme throughout the record, and as we tried to do that, we started to realize that some of our favorite songs were getting left out in the name of keeping the topics consistent," he recalls. "We finally decided, you know what, this is kinda the first time I'm introducing myself to the whole country music audience. Let's make a record that shows them who I am as a person rather than having this theme thread throughout the record. So what we did is, we just were vulnrable and extremely honest. So when you listen to this record, you don't just get to hear songs. If you want to, you can get to know me a little bit."
To hear more from Young, check out this week's episode of Certified Country, below.