"My Best Days Are Ahead of Me" is a song written by

Marv Green Marv Green (born in California) is an American country music songwriter. He is known for co-writing Lonestar's 1999 single "Amazed", which reached number 1 on both the Hot Country Songs and ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts. This song won him a Song ...

and

Kent Blazy Kent Blazy (born in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American country music songwriter. His credits include several singles for Garth Brooks (including Brooks' first number one hit, "If Tomorrow Never Comes"), as well as singles by Gary Morris, Diamon ...

, and recorded by ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' season 8 finalist

Danny Gokey Daniel Jay Gokey (born April 24, 1980) is an American singer and former church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third-place finalist on the eighth season of ''American Idol''.

. It was released in December 2009 as the lead-off single from his debut album ''

My Best Days ''My Best Days'' is the debut studio album from ''American Idol'' season eight finalist Danny Gokey. The album was released on March 2, 2010, by RCA Records Nashville. The track "It's Only" was originally scheduled to be the first single, but it ...

'', which was released on March 2, 2010, via

RCA Nashville RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music. Current artists *Kane Brown *Andrew Jannakos *Miranda Lambert *Niko Moon (RCA/River Hou ...

Content

In "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me," the narrator looks back at the mistakes he has made in his life, but realizes that his "best days are ahead of im"

History

Originally, Gokey's first single was slated to be "It's Only," written by

Charles Kelley Charles Burgess Kelley (born September 11, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and lead singer and founding member of the country music trio Lady A, which was formed in 2006 and are signed to Big Machine Records. Early life and career Kelle ...

and

Dave Haywood David Wesley Haywood (born July 5, 1982) is an American country musician and songwriter. He is one-third of the American country music band Lady A, in which he plays guitar, piano and mandolin, and sings backing vocals. Early life Haywood's fat ...

Lady Antebellum Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar) ...

. This song was withdrawn as a single in November 2009 and replaced with "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me."

Critical reception

Karlie Justus of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs-down. Her review called it "a believable, earnest effort that’s bland and entirely forgettable," and criticized it for a lack of

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

. Matt Bjorke described the song positively in his review of the album, saying that its positive message "aligns nicely with

okey ''Okey'' () is a tile-based game. The aim of the game is to score points against the opposing players by collecting certain groups of tiles. Okey is usually played with four players, but can also be played with only two or three players. It bea ...

" Deborah Evans Price of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' praised Gokey's vocal performance and called the song "the feel-good country song of 2010." Brian Mansfield of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' gave a positive review, saying, "With its uptempo tone of tempered optimism, My Best Days Are Ahead of Me is just the right kind of introductory single for Danny."

Music video

The music video was filmed at a warehouse in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

and directed by

Wes Edwards Wes Edwards is a music video and commercial director. He has directed over 150 official music videos in various genres from country to EDM. He has created multiple videos for Brothers Osborne, Dierks Bentley, Dash Berlin, and Emma Hewitt. In 2020 h ...

. It contains footage of Gokey performing the song, interspersed with motivational messages that appear on the screen. Gokey told ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

'' magazine that he was comfortable filming the video: "I felt like ''American Idol'' gave me some experience in being in front of a camera."

Commercial performance

"My Best Days Are Ahead of Me" debuted at number 55 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts dated for the week ending December 26, 2009. The song entered the country Top 40 at number 39 on the chart dated for the week ending February 20, 2010. The song also debuted at #82 on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

for the week ending March 20, 2010. The song reached its peak of number 24 on the country chart in May 2010.

Charts

References

{{authority control Danny Gokey songs 2009 debut singles Songs written by Kent Blazy Songs written by Marv Green Music videos directed by Wes Edwards RCA Records Nashville singles Song recordings produced by Mark Bright (record producer) 2009 songs