His parents are William Keith Swindell and Betty Carol Rainey. His father died unexpectedly on September 2, 2013, at 65. He grew up in Bronwood, Georgia, and has two brothers and a stepbrother.
Swindell attended Terrell Academy in Dawson, Georgia. Swindell attended Georgia Southern University, where he majored in marketing. He met Luke Bryan, who attended the same university some years earlier and was also a fellow Sigma Chi member, at the fraternity house when Bryan came back to Statesboro to do a show. They kept in touch, and after Swindell left college in 2007 and moved to Nashville, he sold merchandise for Bryan for three years, and wrote songs on the road.
In 2010, Swindell signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Cole Swindell wrote Craig Campbell's "Outta My Head"; Luke Bryan's "Just a Sip", "Beer in the Headlights", "Roller Coaster", "Out Like That", "I'm Hungover", "In Love with the Girl", "Love in a College Town", "Shore Thing", "Shake the Sand" and "The Sand I Brought to the Beach"; Thomas Rhett's "Get Me Some of That"; and Scotty McCreery's "Water Tower Town" and "Carolina Eyes". He also co-wrote Florida Georgia Line's "This Is How We Roll" with Bryan, who was featured on the song. Chris Young also had a song on his A.M. album co-written by Swindell, "Nothin' but the Cooler Left".
2013–15: Cole Swindell
In 2013, after his independently released debut single "Chillin' It" was played heavily by satellite radio channel "The Highway" on SiriusXM, the song began to climb the charts, Swindell signed a record deal with Warner Music Nashville. The song was produced by Jody Stevens, who is the son of Luke Bryan's producer, Jeff Stevens, and was formerly one-half of the duo Fast Ryde. The recording of "Chillin' It" was a demo consisting of Swindell's vocals and Stevens performing all instrumentation, and it was sent to radio before it had been mastered.
Swindell released his self-titled debut album on February 18, 2014. Luke Bryan's guitarist, Michael Carter, produced the rest of the album. Along with Lee Brice, Swindell opened Luke Bryan's 2014 That's My Kind of Night Tour. The tour dates began in mid-January and ran into early March. "Chillin' It" became a top 5 hit on Country Airplay and #1 single on Hot Country Songs. The album's second single is "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight", which Swindell co-wrote with both members of Florida Georgia Line. The album's third single, "Ain't Worth the Whiskey" released to country radio on November 3, 2014. It reached #1 on the Country Airplay chart in April 2015. The album's fourth single, "Let Me See Ya Girl", was released to country radio on April 20, 2015. It reached #2 on the Country Airplay chart in November 2015.
On November 17, 2014, Swindell released a five-song digital EP titled The Down Home Sessions. The EP release coincides with his headlining tour of the same name.
Swindell won the ACM New Artist of the Year Award in April 2015.
2015–18: You Should Be Here
The album's first single, "You Should Be Here" was released to country radio on December 14, 2015. It was written with Ashley Gorley. It reached at #1 on the Country Airplay & Hot Country Songs in April 2016. The album's second single, "Middle of a Memory" released to country radio on May 2, 2016. It reached at #1 on the Country Airplay in November 2016. The album's third single, "Flatliner" (featuring Dierks Bentley) released to country radio on January 23, 2017. It reached #2 on the Country Airplay in August 2017. The album's fourth single, "Stay Downtown" released to country radio on September 5, 2017. “You Should Be Here”, “Middle Of A Memory”, and "Flatliner" all hit #1 on Mediabase country radio singles chart.
Swindell also released a music video for the song which featured a video of him telling his father he received a record contract and subsequent montages of Cole and his brothers grieving outside of the family home and at their father's grave. The video also shows images of Swindell's rising popularity while clearly conveying that he wanted to be able to see his father and share this fame experience with him.
2018–present: All of It
Swindell released "Break Up in the End", the lead single from his third album, on February 23, 2018. The new album, All of It, was released on August 17, 2018. After the album became available for pre-order in July 2018, Swindell released the #1 track "Love You Too Late" as a promotional single. "Love You Too Late" was announced as the album's official second single, being released to radio on November 19, 2018.
The lead single from Swindell's fourth studio album, "Single Saturday Night", was released on May 22, 2020. It was followed by "Never Say Never", a duet with Lainey Wilson, on November 19, 2021. Swindell released his fourth album Stereotype on April 8, 2022. Swindell followed the album up with its third single, "She Had Me at Heads Carolina", a remake of Jo Dee Messina's 1996 single "Heads Carolina, Tails California". Cole's remake revises the storyline to tell of an encounter with a woman singing a Karaoke version of Jo Dee's hit. This single has gone on to become the biggest single of Swindell's career so far, having spent four weeks at #1 on the Country Airplay chart, as well as becoming his first Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Way You're Lovin' Me Now
Cole Swindell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I knew when you would flip the console up
And move my daddy's gun
I knew when the road turned to dirt
The way you were in the clear
You went to pullin' on my shirt
Poppin' buttons in my beer
You're like a wild fire
In a runaway wind
I'm just a silver ride cowboy
Who tryin' to rope you in
When you're lookin' that way
It ain't much left to say
So baby do your thing
The way you're lookin' in my eyes
With your hair falling down
Way out here high on this hill
With the lights off and the back drop of our little town
Baby it ain't no way I'm ever coming down
From the way you're loving me now
The way you're loving me now
I've been caged up for a long, long time
And you were saving it all up
For a night like tonight
And I'm just the lucky one
To have you come over done
Kissing me, loving me
Later don't look for me, girl
The way you're lookin' in my eyes
With your hair falling down
Way out here high on this hill
With the lights off and the back drop of our little town
Baby it ain't no way I'm ever coming down
From the way you're loving me now
Baby there ain't no way, no how
I'm never gonna slow you down
From the way you're loving me now
The way you're lookin' in my eyes
With your hair falling down
Way out here high on this hill
With the lights off and the back drop of our little town
Baby it ain't no way I'm ever coming down
From the way you're loving me now
I love the way you're loving me now
The way you're loving me now
The first verse of Cole Swindell’s “The Way You’re Lovin’ Me Now” tells a story of a passionate space between love and danger. The singer notices the small details of his partner’s behavior, such as predicting the gun hidden in his car and appreciating the thrill of the moment despite the risks. He compares her energy to a wildfire that can’t be contained and himself to a cowboy struggling to rope her in. The second verse emphasizes how the singer has been waiting for a long time for this kind of electricity between them, and how he’s grateful to have her in his life. He knows she’ll leave as suddenly as she came, leaving him with only the memory of the incredible night they shared. The chorus is a mixture of admiration and appreciation for the way she’s looking at him with her hair falling down, surrounded by the quiet of their little town. The singer emphasizes how she’s left him breathless and how he never wants it to end.
Overall, the song is a testament to the power of passion and the way it can feel all-consuming. The singer knows that the intensity of their encounter is a double-edged sword, but he can’t resist the pull of her energy. He’s content to live in the moment and enjoy the ride, even if it means he’ll get burned.
Line by Line Meaning
I knew when the seatbelt come undone
I was aware of the moment when the seatbelt came undone
And I knew when you would flip the console up
I predicted accurately that you would flip the console up
And move my daddy's gun
You moved my father's gun in that same moment
I knew when the road turned to dirt
I sensed that the road we were on turned into dirt
The way you were in the clear
It was evident that you were in control of the situation
You went to pullin' on my shirt
You started to tug on my shirt aggressively
Poppin' buttons in my beer
You opened up the buttons on my shirt over my beer bottle
You're like a wild fire
You have the intensity and power of a raging wildfire
In a runaway wind
That intensity is coupled with a feeling of being uncontainable
I'm just a silver ride cowboy
I recognize that compared to you, I'm a simple cowboy
Who tryin' to rope you in
But still, I'm making efforts to keep you close to me
When you're lookin' that way
I'm amazed and captivated by the way you look right now
It ain't much left to say
Words don't seem to be necessary in this moment
So baby do your thing
Just keep doing what you're doing, it's working
The way you're lookin' in my eyes
I'm mesmerized by your gaze
With your hair falling down
And the way your hair cascades around your face only adds to that effect
Way out here high on this hill
Being up high on this hill with you feels like we're on top of the world
With the lights off and the back drop of our little town
The contrast between the darkness surrounding us and the small lights of our town in the background only enhances this moment
Baby it ain't no way I'm ever coming down
I don't want to come down from this high, from the feeling of being with you
From the way you're loving me now
The way you're loving me right now is making me feel invincible
I've been caged up for a long, long time
I've been feeling trapped and limited for a while now
And you were saving it all up
But you've been holding back, waiting for the right moment
For a night like tonight
And this is finally that night, the one where everything feels perfect
And I'm just the lucky one
I feel fortunate to be the one you've chosen to share this special moment with
To have you come over done
I'm grateful that you have come to me and shared yourself with me completely
Kissing me, loving me
This is all I want in the world right now, to be close to you and feel your love
Later don't look for me, girl
I know that this won't last forever, but I don't want to ruin this moment by acknowledging it ending
Baby there ain't no way, no how
There's no scenario in which I want to suppress your passion and energy
I'm never gonna slow you down
I want you to be free to be yourself and express your love however you want
From the way you're loving me now
I'm so grateful that you're giving me this time and attention, this moment of pure love
I love the way you're loving me now
And I love you, I love the way you're making me feel right now
Contributed by Jasmine T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.