'Turning Up Down!' Behind the Scenes of Morgan Wallen's New Music Video Featuring Florida Georgia Line

"Five years ago, I never would have thought that I would have them on my song," Wallen tells PEOPLE

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Published on October 12, 2017 02:30 PM

In 2012, Morgan Wallen was just a high school graduate hanging out with friends at his lake house in Tennessee when he heard Florida Georgia Line’s hit “Get Your Shine On” for the first time and became a fan.

Fast-forward five years later and now the rising country star is getting ready to release his second single, “Up Down,” featuring FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley — and PEOPLE has an exclusive behind the scenes look at its music video set to premiere on Friday.

“Five years ago, I never would have thought that I would have them on my song,” Wallen, 24, tells PEOPLE. “It’s really kind of crazy how it all unfolded, and I can’t wait to get it out for the rest of the world to see.”

Wallen, who has joined Hubbard and Kelley during select shows on their Smooth Tour, says the two “have taken me under their wing and treated me like a little brother.”

“We’ve had the chance to hang, write, and play shows together,” Hubbard says of Wallen. “He’s super talented and when we first heard this song, we knew we wanted to be on it —so we asked Morgan if that’d be cool.”

Kelley adds: “We knew it was something special that we hadn’t heard in a long time. It’s got a feel-good groove of its own that’s going to make it everybody’s new favorite jam for sure! So proud of our boy Morgan.”

The music video for the party anthem, which celebrates fishing and drinking, was filmed in Orange Beach, Alabama, and features a live performance of Wallen and the FGL duo in concert at The Wharf Amphitheater.

“It’s a party song so we didn’t want to get in-depth or anything with the video,” Wallen says. “Since we were already in Alabama playing shows, we decided to use the beach and BK had just gotten his boat so we figured we could test that out. Obviously, [FGL’s] crowd and stage is really cool and makes for some great video. We threw it all together and filmed it in two days.”

Though “The Way I Talk” singer said the vibe on set was “super laid-back” with Kelley, Hubbard, director Justin Clough and co-songwriter Michael Hardy while shooting the video, there was one concern they kept in mind: “Trying not to fall off the boat while standing up on the rails when the drones were going by.”

Spotify will premiere the vertical version of the sun-drenched clip on Friday as part of its new Hot Country Vertical Video feature. The video’s full wide-angle version is slated to drop Oct. 20.