ABC Rachel Recchia & Jordan Vandergriff.
Most Bachelor Nation fans are well aware that season 19 is the first time that there have been two bachelorettes reigning over the mansion for the long haul. However, week two of the uniquely formatted season sparked another first for the franchise. According to Us Weekly, this is the first time in “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette’s” history where a date didn’t last long enough to make it the musical performance, and the artists had to perform to a party of one.
Dinner for Two, Dancing for One
Usually when the couples get to the special-musical-guest-portion of the date, they dance cheek to cheek as a romantic tune serenades them, and often they engage in their first kiss. That didn’t happen for Rachel Recchia in episode two. Not even close.
Recchia’s date, drag racer, Jordan Vandergriff, was sent packing without a rose during dinner. Which meant the scheduled performance from Ashley Cooke and Brett Young either had to be cancelled, or performed for Recchia alone. Since the singers were ready to go, and already expected to be shown on primetime TV, ABC elected to give the Bachelorette her own private performance.
The Backstage Dirt
The female half of the duet, Ashley Cooke, spoke with Us Weekly about how everything went down behind the scenes. The song Cooke and Young sang, “Never Til Now,” is a romantic love song with lyrics that include, “Oh, never ’til now/Yeah, the kind of love you fall so hard/You never hit the ground/Never ’til now.”
Ironically, a musical act performing for a solo audience on the franchise has never happened ‘til now either. Also falling somewhat under the irony umbrella, Cooke explained that the experience ended up being a “full circle moment.” As she relayed to Us Weekly, “when I had written ‘Never Til Now,’ obviously, it’s a love song. But I was very single, I’m still single. And I was at a place of, you know, trying to kind of manifest my future person of who I wanted to meet down the road and the kind of love that I wanted.”
The country singer went on to say, “it was a weird full circle moment that wasn’t expected, but it turned out to be the same story for Rachel. And that’s really cool because I feel like it just kind of all intertwines, and it shows that love songs, and [this] song especially, can kind of relate to people at all different phases of love whether you found it or not.”
Cooke and Recchia apparently hit it off, likely due in part to this connection. Cooke never got to meet Vandergriff or the other Bachelorette, Gabby Windey. However, she described Recchia as the “sweetest woman on the planet,” and said the pilot sent her a message after the show saying how much she enjoyed meeting her.
Cooke is rooting for Recchia to find the type of love she describes in her song. The 25-year-old is also concentrating her debut album and upcoming tour with Cole Swindell, Us Weekly reports.
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