Garth Brooks Says ‘Stronger Than Me’ Will Make His Relationship With Trisha Yearwood Stronger

Garth Brooks says no matter what happens with "Stronger Than Me" on the charts, he knows it will improve his marriage to wife Trisha Yearwood.

Brooks delivered one of the most heartfelt moments of the 2018 CMA Awards with the debut of a new song that was even the first time Yearwood heard it. She was sitting in the front row and tears welled in her eyes as she took in the touching message for the first time. Apparently, the two had a bet going about who would cry, and Yearwood is on the losing end.

"It was a cool moment. I didn't cry, so I was happy about that," Brooks told Taste of Country and other media backstage after the CMA Awards. "She's not a big surprise girl, but she took it well."

In describing the song, Brooks drove home the fact that it's about the strength of a woman — a message layered so thick that he was dumfounded the first time he heard a demo. While the message is for all women, Brooks only has one in mind when he sings it, and he anticipates that it will bring them closer together.

"If you're married, there are points in your life you never get across. You both just get to this point where you argue and argue and you just get exhausted and you're done and that's kind of our way," he explains. "We have two or three points in our life like that. That song addressed two of those three points. So I noticed when I looked up at her at those points, she was kind of laughing, smiling and crying at the same time. So this song is going to actually make our relationship better, whether it does anything in the business or not."

Brooks was teasing the song in the days leading up to the show, simply referring to it as #STM. He opened the 2018 CMAs with a dedication to the 12 victims of the mass shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 7 that was followed by a moment of silence.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's Love Is Goals, Clearly: