‘'If you are interested in somebody and ya’ll are dating and you’re like, “I don’t know if I should trust him, I don’t know if I should let myself fall.. but I really like him” then “Before I Do” is for you. ’'

I feel like everybody can kinda relate to it, because it’s really just saying, “Before I allow myself to fall for you, I need you to reassure me that you’ll be able to catch me.” I think it’s something that a lot of people can relate to because dating is very scary. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and to fall for anybody can be very, very terrifying. Especially if you’ve gone through crazy breakups or crazy relationships before, you always enter the next one with a little bit or hesitation.

This song was written by myself, another writer named Micah, and I don’t know if you remember the group Cherish, but one of the writers in Cherish—her name is Felisha. They had already started it when I got it, and I loved it so, so, so much, because it just felt really good. And I remember we had a session. I came in on probably like the second verse. We wrote the second verse together, wrote the bridge together, and just wanted to stay very true to what the narrative was saying.

It’s not a beating-around-the-bush type of song. It’s like, “I heard about your reputation. I heard you get down a little bit. I heard that you might be dating Mary, Susie, Tiffany, Britney, Ashley, whatever. I’ve heard about your track record. I need you to prove to me that… Is that just your reputation? Is it true? What is this going to be?”