Ashley Cooke on kissing Matt Rife in 'Baby Blues' music video

Ashley Cooke is opening up about one of the most talked-about moments in her music video for Baby Blues, a kiss with comedian and actor Matt Rife. 

Cooke, 29, spoke with Us Weekly about casting Rife as the blue-eyed love interest in the video, a choice that made sense after their now-viral moment at a Billboard Country Live event during CMA Fest on June 5, when she pulled him onstage to serenade him with the song in front of a packed Nashville crowd. 

The flirty performance, capturing Rife's visibly flustered reaction as Cooke sang directly to him, quickly went viral and set social media ablaze with speculation about whether the two were an item.

“[Matt] was the first person I thought of when we thought about this music video,” Cooke, 29, told the outlet.

She went on to reveal that she’s grown “really close” to the comedian. “It felt like a really comfortable, easy person to have in the video,” she added.

”And the kissing scene wasn’t too bad either.”

Baby Blues, from Cooke's self-titled fourth album released in August, is built around the premise of a woman singing to a blue-eyed stranger across a bar. 

Cooke has said the track came together unexpectedly during a writers' retreat and describes it as one of those songs that felt instantly familiar, noting she'd been performing it live for some time before fans finally got the official recording. 

Her ongoing "the baby blues world tour" this fall has made the serenade tradition a nightly feature, with Cooke picking one audience member each show to receive the song's full attention.

Watch the 'Baby Blues' music video here: