Maren Morris Was Sick While Recording Song with Teddy Swims — but Thinks It ‘Added’ to the ‘Heartbreak in the Vocal’ (Exclusive)

Maren Morris had a blast joining Teddy Swims on a reworked version of his soulful ballad “Some Things I’ll Never Know” — literally.

The singer, 33, reveals that she actually had a cold the day she was supposed to record the song (streaming now), but carried on with surprisingly satisfying results.

“I was a little bummed that it was the only day I could sing and I was sick,” she tells PEOPLE. “And so [co-writers Julian Bunetta and John Ryan] they assured me it still sounded good, even though I felt so stuck in it. But that may have contributed to my heartbreak in the vocals.”

Morris says that when all is said and done, she feels that her illness may have even added something special to the song, because she was able to let go and really feel the emotion behind the lyrics.

Teddy Swims and Maren Morris.

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“It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget, just because I wasn’t thinking about hitting certain notes perfectly,” she explains. “I didn’t think or analyze too much. I was really moved by Teddy’s vocals and I just found my footing during the second verse, and it felt like you’re seeing God or something when you’re harmonizing with a vocal like Teddy’s.”

The star adds that it was an overall “emotional experience in difficult ways” for her, mostly because of the song’s lyrics, which grapple with the fact that heartbreak doesn’t always come with closure (Morris filed for divorce from husband Ryan Hurd in October after five years marriage).

“It just resonates – the meaning of the lyrics resonates so much with me now,” she says. “It’s such a beautiful song with or without me on it, but obviously I’m honored to be a small part of this.”

Maren Morris and Teddy Swims.

Jesse Lendzio

“Some Things I’ll Never Know” originally appeared on Swims’ debut album I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1) in September, and he and Morris released their new version Friday with a live video.

Swims, 31, tells PEOPLE that the pair shot the video in Nashville two weeks ago, which was the first time they’d ever really met, though the singer says he’s been a Morris fan “forever.”

“I’ve always loved Maren and we reached out like, ‘Please do this.’ Thank God that it happened – he says. “Collaborations are so different today, it’s like you can collaborate with someone without actually meeting them in person. And we met for the music video, so now we’re best friends!”

Maren Morris and Teddy Swims.

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Morris says applying to join Swims was easy because the song was already her favorite on his record, as she found it “so visceral and heartbreaking”. She adds that she was “very emotional” while filming, and almost had to take a break because she was “just going through it”.

The song also had a profound effect on Swims, who says he has yet to sing it “without crying like a little baby about it.”

“There are things about people that leave your life, and you’re never done,” he says. “Even sometimes people need space, and I’ve always been really bad at giving people space because I thought, ‘What can I do to fix this? Please just tell me what I can do?’ When you do that to people who need space, sometimes you push them further away, which is also bullshit, and I’m really bad at that… I don’t think closure exists when it comes to relationships. And the older I get, the more I think, ‘Man, maybe the closure… It’s not real. It is a reconciliation in itself, not a closure.”

“Some Things I’ll Never Know,” featuring Maren Morris, is out now.

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Source: HIS Education