Levi Hummon Puts His Dating Days Behind Him with His Engagement: 'Don't Know What I Was Waiting For' (Exclusive)

Levi Hummon knows how fast love can come and go. But the accomplished singer-songwriter also knows when love is meant to stay.

"I can't really even describe just how happy I am," Hummon, 33, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. "Kearsten is my rock."

Kearsten Kochan is also now his fiancée, as Hummon popped the question to his girlfriend in May. "I don't know what I was waiting for," admits Hummon, who bought a house with Kochan in Nashville earlier this year. "My brother ended up getting married in March of this year, and I wanted to let him be the star. It was just a couple of weeks after that that I popped the question. And it's been amazing."

And as much as his personal life has been flourishing as of late, Hummon is quick to note that being completely in love has completely changed his professional life also. 

"Kearsten is definitely the person that's allowed me to be in this new mindset with my music," says Hummon, who recently signed a deal with Jonas Entertainment Group's Red Van Records and spent recent months touring with his "Paying for It" collaborator Walker Hayes on his Same Drunk Tour. "I think that her belief in me allowed me to take the risk of not being an independent artist anymore, but actually get used to trusting in other people."

There are other advantages to being crazy in love. 

"The whole new batch of songs that I'm about to be putting out is all love songs and happy songs instead of happy breakup songs," admits Hummon with a laugh. "I've always been chasing, trying to find somebody who loves me as much as I can love them."

This love certainly finds itself in amongst the seven strong songs that make up Hummon’s new EP Bet on Me, which includes the addictive "Another Shot" and Hummon’s catchy new single "Bet on Me," which he co-wrote alongside Jake Rose, Canaan Smith and Amy Stroup.

"What's funny is both 'Another Shot' and 'Bet on Me' have gotten these weird TikTok trends," Hummon says. "There are all these videos of moms with their kids or parents with their animals. The people just take these songs to that next level."

Specifically, the strength of "Bet on Me" even encouraged the already viral country music artist to film a clip for it – the first "legit music video" he has put out since 2017's "Guts and Glory."

"It's just about a driver who is losing a race and the only person that's betting on him is his dad," Hummon explains of the music video filmed at Duck River Raceway in Lewisburg, Tennessee. "I cast my dad [Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Marcus Hummon] for the role, and he was the hardest person ever to pin down. I couldn't lock down my own dad to play the role of my father!"

Of course, Hummon says Kochan loved "Bet on Me" from the moment she heard it. "She has no poker face," Hummon laughs of the Wisconsin native. "Every time I play her a song, it's either good or bad and I know it. She really has a great ear for music."

Kochan — who is a dermatology medical assistant — also has a great sense for wedding planning.

"We're going to be getting married in Key Largo on June 14th of next year," he says of the wedding plans that include Hummon’s mother Becca Stevens officiating the service. "We're doing a beachside wedding. I'm just a beachy guy and she just said she'd marry me anywhere, so it was an easy decision."