Chase McDaniel’s Debut Album Is Him ‘Choosing to Live’ After a Man Stopped Him from Jumping Off a Bridge (Exclusive)

Nearly a decade ago, rising country star Chase McDaniel tried to end his life. Since then, he’s chosen to live — and wants to “carry the torch back into the dark” for others on his debut album.

Ahead of the release of Lost Ones, McDaniel opened up to PEOPLE about creating an album that told his story — and required him to “go back into the dark” to find perspective.

“I was in my early 20s when I tried to end my own life,” McDaniel, now 31, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“I was standing on the side of a bridge in Louisville, Kentucky at 3:00 in the morning when a guy saw me from about a quarter mile away, ran over to me, pulled me back over the concrete ledge and told me I had to keep fighting,” he recalls.

After that moment, McDaniel — who grew up in the south and was “always taught to hide my emotions” — realized that it was the first time he felt “truly seen in my pain.”

“It was the first decision, the first step in choosing to live,” he says. “The album is like step seven. It’s been a long process to get here, but now it’s taking the things that I’ve learned, putting it into the music and seeing who might benefit from the things that I had to learn the hard way.”

McDaniel was raised by his grandparents in Greensburg, Kentucky after his dad died of an overdose. As he recalls, McDaniel was given a Josh Turner CD when he was 6 years old and his life was changed.

“I played that record nonstop. I’d go to my room and just put my headphones on, shut out the world and it was like everything was okay. So music was a place for me to find solace,” he says.

When his mental health began to take a real turn, McDaniel says it was “really brutal” and took him “to the lowest points of my life.”

“I didn’t tell anybody about it. I was scared to. I was afraid to lose my reputation. I was afraid that people might think that I was crazy. And so I thought instead, ‘If I could beat this thing, you know, white knuckle it or beat it intellectually, then no one would ever have to know, or I’ll just take myself out first,'” he says.

Then, after that moment on the bridge, McDaniel experienced a “rocky journey” of going to the hospital, seeing multiple counselors, trying different medications and personal therapy.

“I had to go on a personal journey of understanding why it happens and then also dealing with the things that may have caused it,” McDaniel says. “Feeling them in full, experiencing the world in full, and reconnecting myself back in the world. I’d gotten so sick that I couldn’t leave my house. So to now be performing on stage every night… that’s a pretty big jump.”

While every song on this album has a personal tie to McDaniel’s story, “Made It This Far” is the song he needed to hear on his journey to recovery.

“One day I was just sitting with myself and pondering writing a song. And I was like, ‘What a horrible injustice to myself [suicide] would be. Look at how far I’ve come, look at how hard I had to fight. Look at all the things that I’ve learned about myself, all the things that I’ve been through and made it through,'” he says. “I deserve to stick around and see what’s on the other end of the fight.”

Following the release of his 12-track album, McDaniel hopes to continue writing songs and building his live show: “If I get to do this for the rest of my life, what a damn lucky and blessed life that is.”

Outside of music, McDaniel started The Lost Ones Club to create connection by giving people a platform to share their stories on grief, tragedy and triumph. Fans can sign up here.

“I hope that my life is just a little bit of evidence that your circumstances and your feelings can change and get better,” he says.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.