Bailey Zimmerman revealed his favorite love song — and serenade Bobby Bones.

Zimmerman, 25, caught up with Bobby on the first night of the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Capital One on Friday night (September 19). Bobby asked the country star, “do you have a favorite love song that’s not yours? One that you’ve covered, or one that you just like listening to?”

Zimmerman thought about his answer for a moment, and quickly said his favorite love song is Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect,” a romantic ballad that made its debut in 2017: “Baby, I'm dancin' in the dark with you between my arms/ Barefoot on the grass while listenin' to our favourite song/ When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath/ But you heard it, ‘Darling, you look perfect tonight.’”

People off-camera applauded after Zimmerman sang a few of the lyrics. When asked about his own music, Zimmerman shared, “I’ve been in love before, and when you know what that feeling feels like you can — I’ve really been able to write songs about that in a lot of different ways. …So, it’s from the heart. Real emotion.”

Zimmerman also spoke about his songwriting and the vulnerability that goes into that process in a conversation with Kyle McMahon on a recent episode of Pop Culture Weekly. He shared at that time that songwriting is “therapeutic,” and spoke about his “meteoric rise” as an artist.

The Different Night Same Rodeo star — who recently announced his headlining 2026 tour after releasing his sophomore album — took the T-Mobile Arena stage with Diplo and BigXthaPlug with Las Vegas-worthy energy.

The star-studded, genre-spanning event returns on Friday and Saturday night (September 20) to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The lineup of the 2025 show includes Zimmerman, plus Jelly Roll, BigXthaPlug, Bryan Adams, Ed Sheeran, Diplo, GloRilla, John Fogerty, Justice, LL COOL J, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Sammy Hagar, Tate McRae, The Offspring, and Tim McGraw.

Fans can tune in to the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Festival as the music mega event will be broadcast live each night at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm PT via iHeartMedia radio stations throughout the country across more than 150 markets. Hulu will be the Official Streaming Destination of the festival, with performances livestreamed each night exclusively to all Hulu subscribers. Find more info here.

In case you missed it, or just want to relive it all again, fans can tune in to an iHeartRadio Music Festival special, including highlights from the music mega weekend, on Hulu on Thursday, October 2nd.

Amy James

"Reading is throwing shade: A brutal insult wrapped inside a glorious wordplay."