Taylor Hicks

‘American Idol’ Winner Taylor Hicks Drops First Single in Years

American Idol Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks is back in the music scene with his first single in years.

The singer and songwriter just debuted the upbeat country-esque tune titled Porch Swing on Feb. 20. He wrote the song with the help of Jennifer Wayne, who is with the group Runaway June, and Jason Deere.

Hicks recorded Porch Swing out of Zac Brown’s Southern Grand studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and in an interview with PEOPLE, he credited Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers as his inspirations behind the song’s bluesy feel.

“It’s those guys that have paved the way for me to release music that’s popular and real in this moment,” he shared. “Over the last 10 years, I’ve been collecting, writing, performing, and testing music. I mean, I had a bunch of stuff finished. Heck, I had an album finished. But I still found myself waiting for just the right time.”

Taylor Hicks was crowned American Idol in 2006 and has since released two studio albums, a title album in 2006 and The Distance in 2009. He also dropped Under the Radar one year before competing on the game show.

Despite being in the music world for well over a decade, he has dedicated himself to “quality over quantity.”

 “I mean, it’s not like you are just baking cookies, you know? I’m a little bit old school when it comes to my music,” he added.

Tyler Hicks Hopes to Include ‘Porch Swing’ on a Future Studio Album

While Taylor Hicks has been diligently working on new releases during his spotlight hiatus, he was waiting for just the right time to reemerge, and he finally did when “the universe kind of nudged” him into it.

Hicks spoke on The Bobby Bones Show just ahead of the single’s debut and shared that Porch Swing hit him with a bit of Americana nostalgia, which is what drew him to recording and releasing it as his return track.

As a child, he always remembered his grandparents having a porch swing that was “the centerpiece” of their home.

“The porch swing is kind of iconic. It’s a centerpiece of people’s lives all across the country. It’s a timeless, American thing,” he shared.

The new song is part of a collection he’s been sitting on and intending to record for about six years. He told Bones that’s because he’s not part of a label. He takes a “grassroots” approach, which isn’t always as fast.

Hicks also shared that he originally intended the upcoming songs to be part of an album, and that plan may still come to fruition.