Kenny Chesney earned a Best Country Duo / Group Performance nomination at the 2017 Grammy Awards, for his duet with Pink, "Setting the World on Fire," and was thrilled to hear the news after it was announced on Tuesday morning (Dec. 6).

"That’s fantastic," Chesney says in a press release. "What a thing, what news to wake up to.”

Chesney adds that he knew "Setting the World on Fire" was "pretty special" from the start, "[b]ut when we got Pink on there, it was something else."

"She captures all the emotion, all the joy of being alive, being free and in the moment -- and brought everything inside the song to life," Chesney adds. "I couldn’t be happier this morning, knowing the people who vote for the Grammys heard in that song all the things that I do.”

“Setting the World on Fire,” written by Ross Copperman, Matt Jenkins and Josh Osborne, is a mid-tempo tune that explores the emotions — the good and the anxious — of falling in love. The song’s lyrics are, according to Chesney, “a perfect way of saying it, but when you feel that melody rise, the arrangement picking up momentum — it’s bigger than you are, and all you want to do is throw yourself against the night."

Just days before his new album, Cosmic Hallelujah, was due out on July 8, Chesney announced that he was delaying its release to add “Setting the World on Fire” to the project. The country star and Pink formed a friendship while the “Noise” singer was spending time in California; he calls her “an incredible singer,” describing her voice as one that “holds so many feelings all at the same time: joy, desire, a bit of toughness, a little hurt.”

“To me, great songs are great songs regardless of genre — and the core of being alive is the same no matter where you are,” Chesney says. “[W]ith her voice that is so strong and contains so many colors, [Pink] really makes that idea of giving into your heart, shouting out the window and whirling around in the middle of an abandoned street feel real.”

The 59th annual Grammy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Feb. 12. The Late Late Show host James Corden will host the televised ceremony, which will begin at 8PM ET on CBS; the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony will begin at 3:30PM ET and be available to stream online. Further details, including a list of performers, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Best Country 2016 Grammy Awards Moments

More From B105