Rick Springfield Debuts Music Video for 'Down'

The singer embarks on a music tour next month.

ByABC News
June 21, 2016, 8:12 AM

— -- Rick Springfield has a busy summer ahead of him.

First up is an appearance on ABC's "Greatest Hits" on June 30 and a few days later, he'll embark on a new music tour.

Fans in attendance can expect to hear his classics, but they might also want to familiarize themselves with his new single "Down," which he wrote with Rascal Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus.

The two met on a film set and wrote the song on DeMarcus' tour bus on their way from Atlanta to Nashville.

"We just started jamming... [and] we finished the melody and the chord structure in an hour-and-a-half," Springfield told ABC News on Monday. "Jay actually came up with the title. He said, 'What about 'Down,' but it's not 'I'm down,' or 'I feel bad,' but 'I'll never let you down,' and I thought that was really cool. And I did work that concept into the lyrics."

For the music video, Springfield, 66, headed to a cliff in San Diego and had a drone shoot his band there. Filming only took a few hours, and the concept was in keeping with the song's message, he explained.

"It's a very open heart song," he said. "We'd just been watching a bunch of drone videos on YouTube and I said, 'Why don't we...have a drone film us on this cliff?' So we got this great drone pilot and it's just amazing."

But as much as he loves the new song, Springfield insists that he still enjoys singing "Jessie's Girl" too. If his songs are his children, he said, "'Jessie's Girl' is like the most talented, prettiest of your kids that you put out for the uncles and aunts to ooh and aah over."

"Every time we did a show, the whole audience is singing the verses: kids, teens and older people, so it's a powerful thing to see them," he added. "I'm very proud of having written the song."