Maren Morris Was Sick While Recording with Teddy Swims — but It 'Added' to 'Heartbreak in the Vocal' (Exclusive)

Maren Morris had a sick time joining Teddy Swims on a reworked version of his emotional ballad “Some Things I’ll Never Know” — literally.

The singer, 33, reveals that she’d actually come down with a cold on the day she was set to record the track (streaming now), but trudged ahead, with surprisingly satisfying results.

“I was a little bummed that it was the only day I could do the vocal and I was sick,” she tells PEOPLE. “And so [co-writers Julian Bunetta and John Ryan] were assuring me that it still sounded good, even though I felt so stopped up in it. But it maybe added to my heartbreak in the vocal.”

Morris says that when all was said and done, she feels that her illness may have even added a special something to song, as she was able to let go and really feel the emotion behind the lyrics.

“It was definitely an experience that I’ll never forget, just because I didn’t think about hitting certain notes perfectly,” she explains. “I wasn’t overthinking or over analyzing. I was just so in the emotions of Teddy’s vocal, and just found my footing throughout the second verse, and just feeling like you see God or something when you get to harmonize with a vocal like Teddy’s.”

The star adds that it was an overall “emotional experience in heavy ways” for her, mostly due to the lyrics of the song, which grapple with the fact that heartbreak doesn’t always come with closure (Morris filed for divorce from husband Ryan Hurd in October after five years of marriage).

“It just resonates — the meaning of the lyric resonates with me so much right now,” she says. “It’s just such a beautiful song with or without me on it, but I’m obviously so honored to be a small part of this one.”

“Some Things I’ll Never Know” originally appeared on Swims’ debut album I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1) in September, and he and Morris released their new version on Friday alongside a live video.

Swims, 31, tells PEOPLE that when the pair shot the video in Nashville two weeks ago, it was the first time they’d ever actually met, though the singer says he’d been a fan of Morris “forever.”

“I’ve just always loved Maren and we reached out like, ‘Please do this.’ Thank God it happened,” he says. “Collaborations are so different nowadays, like you can collaborate with somebody without actually meeting them in person. And we met each other for the video, so now we’re besties!”

Morris says that signing on to join Swims was a no-brainer, as the song was already her favorite on his record, as she found it “so visceral and heartbreaking.” She adds that she was “heavily emotional” while recording, and nearly had to take a break because she “was just going through it.”

The track has deeply affected Swims too, who says he hasn’t quite been able to sing it yet “without crying like a little baby about it.”

“There’s things about people that leave your life and you never truly get closure,” he says. “Even sometimes people need space, and I’ve always been really bad at giving people space because I’m like, ‘What can I do to fix this? Please just tell me what can I do?’ When you do that to people who need space, sometimes you push them further away, which also sucks, and I’m very bad at that… I don’t think closure exists when it comes to relationships. And the older I get, the more I’m like, ‘Man, maybe closure… It’s not real. It’s reconciliation within yourself rather than closure.”

“Some Things I’ll Never Know," featuring Maren Morris, is out now.