Ashley Cooke Teased Her Bachelorette Duet With Brett Young “Might Be Awkward”

Following The Bachelorette Season 19 premiere’s canceled rose ceremony, ABC teased the second episode would include Rachel Recchia’s first one-on-one date, consisting of a once-in-a-lifetime Zero-G Experience, followed by a surprise musical performance by Ashley Cooke and Brett Young. Like the rose ceremony, though, not everything played out exactly as planned in the July 18 broadcast.

Drag racer Jordan Vandergriff, aka “Jordan V.” was revealed to be the recipient of Rachel’s coveted first one-on-one date card, but things went left just prior to Cooke and Young’s live performance at the Los Angeles Theater. After Jordan opened up to Rachel during an intimate dinner, she realized she wasn’t feeling a spark between them and ran off to talk to a producer. Upon her return, the co-Bachelorette explained to Jordan why she couldn’t give him her rose. In turn, he took the rejection graciously and headed home.

If the date had gone according to plan, they would have finished the night watching a private concert by Cooke & Young. Instead, ABC filmed their “Never Til Now” duet but edited the aired footage to include clips of Rachel and Jordan saying their goodbyes.

On July 12, Cooke teased on Instagram that she was about to perform “on a huge TV show,” and, the following day, she revealed the series was, indeed, ABC’s The Bachelorette. In the days that followed, the singer also shared several behind-the-scenes moments, including her first time seeing the set and a pre-performance pep talk with Young, during which she admitted their performance “might be awkward.” Given Rachel and Jordan V.’s breakup, fans now know exactly what she was talking about.

Though Cooke first premiered a “Never Til Now” lyric music video in late October 2021 — writing in the YouTube comments that the “song & lyrics mean so much” to her — the official solo performance clip didn’t drop until the following Valentine’s Day. On April 1, the track she co-wrote with pal Matt Roy took on a new life when Young, a 2008 Best Rock Song Grammy nominee, came on board. Teasing “huge news” in a March 29 Instagram post, Cooke wrote that she was “adding a massive country artist” to the song, elaborating on YouTube that she’d also “just found your next wedding song!” Even before they performed “Never Til Now” on The Bachelorette, Cooke and Young’s music video already racked up roughly 2.2 million views less than four months after it dropped.

“It’s been incredible to see how my song ‘Never Til Now’ has resonated with so many people in every phase of love whether they’ve found their person or they’re manifesting it through these lyrics,” Cooke, who will join Young on tour later this summer, said in a statement (via Country Now), before her Bachelorette TV debut. “It’s an honor to get to be the voice behind the story and to get to be a small part of Rachel and Gabby’s journey to finding love.”