Little Big Town's "Girl Crush" won two 2015 CMA Awards in November and is now competing for three trophies at the 2016 Grammy Awards. The honors are especially meaningful considering the controversy that surrounded the song, when some radio stations allegedly pulled it from their playlists after listeners complained about its perceived message -- backlash, the country quartet says, that only made them that much stronger.

"I don’t know that we ever got angry," Jimi Westbrook told The Boot and other reporters at a recent media event. "In the beginning stages of that, when all of that was happening, there was a little bit of frustration and kind of going, ‘Really? Are we really talking about that? Is that what this is all going to be about?'"

The publicized outcry actually did the opposite of its intended effect: "Girl Crush" became extremely popular and even broke a long-standing chart record.

"I think we got a tweet from Boy George. We definitely never heard from him before!" Kimberly Schlapman reveals. "So many people, in the shows, we’re seeing a diverse crowd who comes to the show. And the way they sing "Girl Crush," louder than I could ever sing it, it’s really thrilling. So, yeah, it’s brought us to places that we could only dream of."

"Girl Crush" was written by Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose, all of whom Little Big Town were thrilled to see win Song of the Year at the 2015 CMA Awards -- and they'd be just as thrilled to see the trio of writers take home a Grammy.

"I literally could have died when those girls got up there for Song of the Year, because nobody deserves it more," Karen Fairchild says. "I think country music is in the best place right now, and it’s been incredible, and it’s going to be incredible ... the diversity of it, getting back to songs, it’s good. It’s a really good time, and we’re really grateful."

"Girl Crush" is from Little Big Town's 2014 Pain Killer album. The song is available for download on iTunes.

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