When you think of country music, what’s the first thing you associate with this specific genre? Do you conjure up thoughts of soundscapes that traverse blues, folk and Americana? Do you envision a typical old man dressed in western clothing crooning in a southern American accent whilst playing the banjo? Arguably a lot of people today may potentially call country music ‘outdated’ but I’m here to say that’s not the case. We live in a world now where music fans are more open-minded than and willing to listen to anything and everything, gone are the days of being loyal to only one type or genre of music. We’re free to listen to whatever we want and country music is having an incredible resurgence thanks to an impressive array of talent that mixes classic characteristics of country with different elements. One shining star in the country scene right now is the fast-rising 26-year-old singer-songwriter, Breland.
Breland has been making waves ever since his breakthrough single “My Truck” was released back in 2019 and the modern country star’s debut single went certified platinum in America by January 2021. What makes him such an exciting artist is that he’s helping to revitalise the country music scene by showing this type of music can be multidimensional, it’s not limited by previous old-fashioned stereotypes. All you have to do is listen to his 2020 self-titled EP or his slew of catchy singles and you’ll find classic country moments intertwined with glorious elements of rap, soul, R&B, gospel, and tinges of electronic nuances. Country music has never felt so accessible and free to anyone and everyone, no matter your age.
After sold-out shows in the US and with a rapidly growing fanbase, the songwriter is now ready to release his debut record, “Cross Country” which is dropping on 9th September 2022. House Of Solo sat down with the in-demand country star and discussed his debut record, his top highlight so far, and the changes needed in the music scene to help uplift his fellow black artists.
Once our interview began via Zoom call, we started discussing his forthcoming debut record. At the point in time, this interview took place, details on the album were being kept on the down-low but I was keen for him to tell us anything he could about it and what the initial goal he wanted to achieve at the start of writing the record was. First and foremost Breland wanted to create a body of work that proves country music is multidimensional.
“The idea behind it… it’s really a hypothesis. I am trying to present a body of work that proves the hypothesis which is that country music can sound a million different ways. So “Cross Country” to me is a phrase that I’ve coined to describe the type of music that I make; any type of music that crosses country with R&B, Hip-hop, pop, gospel or whatever. If it’s a cross between country and something else then it’s cross country. There’s a lot of music that falls under that pretty vast umbrella. But the way that I see it is music is one of the only things that we have that brings people together. It’s a really powerful unifier and always has been. We could feel it when the pandemic hit and live music went away, we could feel how disconnected that made us, when live music started coming back we could see how joyful it made all the people who were able to experience it. I think when you have rigid genre lines around country music where it becomes siloed as this ‘other thing’ that people can’t participate in or don’t feel invited to, that’s not good because music isn’t supposed to do that. So I’ve wanted to create bridges between country music and the other genres.”
Breland continues: “This album is my peace offering of “hey, these things can all coexist, and it can be very powerful and it can be fun, and it’s a viable way of considering music.” The project is kind of exploring that on a song-by-song basis. Every song has a slightly different set of influences and genres that are being played with. I think people will really enjoy it. If you’ve liked the music I put out before, this is definitely an extension and elevation of that but if you didn’t like my music before, I think there will be songs on here that everyone will like because they’re all different. They’re all drawn from different places. So if you like more traditional country music we have songs on there that feel like that. We have influences from all of these different genres, I think there is truly something on this project for everyone.”
Moving on it was important to note that Breland is quite an interesting character, he’s clearly passionate and dedicated to his craft but he’s also a businessman. He may have fallen in love with music at a young age but the Atlanta-based singer decided to turn down admission to New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music so he could study business at Georgetown University in Washington. I was curious to find out the reason behind why this was and he was happy to clarify that it was simply due to the fact that gaining business skills allow you to be more successful in your career overall as you can branch out.
“I knew that music was something that I was going to put my all into. I just knew that at 17 years old music itself is only ever going to get you so far in your career. It’s the other business ventures and the way you conduct your business, even just as it directly pertains to the music, that really determines the trajectory of what it is you do. If you look at someone like Jay-Z, we know Jay-Z because his discography is insane but Jay-Z has built a global presence for himself as a business person. I think a lot of the artists we look at have found ways to do that. To me, it was always going to be a focus. I was gonna make music regardless of whether I went to college or not, whatever university I ended up attending, I knew I was going to create music and I knew that if I was going to become successful in music it was going to be more dependent on what I was able to learn as a businessman than what I was able to learn as a musician.”
He was spot on, when you think about extremely successful artists like Jay-Z, Rihanna or anyone else that comes to mind, they’ve always backed up their art by pursuing other ventures as well. If you think of Rihanna, you know her as a world-dominating artist but also as the owner of the extremely popular cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty. Regardless, Breland has been able to strengthen his talents by having the business knowledge behind him to increase the longevity of his career. Although he’s only at the start of his official artist career, he’s already had some amazing highlights so far over the last couple of years. These include: going platinum, topping Spotify’s ‘Global Viral 50’, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, collaborating with the likes of Keith Urban, Nelly and more. Yet Breland is quick off the mark to say that his biggest highlight so far is when he headlined and sold out the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for a charitable cause. The country star brought out numerous friends and collaborators on the night such as Jimmie Allen, Charles Kelley and more. It was an incredible evening which saw the singer raise over $140,000 for Nashville’s Oasis Centre, an organisation that helps young people in crisis.
“It was an unbelievable night and we raised $140,000 for the charity, it’s a local charity that does a lot of work with teens at risk and in crisis in Nashville and middle Tennessee. It was the best performance I’ve ever done so far. It was really special to be able to bring out all of those people. It was really cool to be able to sell out the Ryman but most importantly it was for a great cause, my parents were in town and were able to experience that moment with me.”
Trousers Slowear
Shoes Converse
Not only is Breland a gifted artist, he’s also written for other artists. It’s something that he adores. Although the songwriting may be for another artist, it allows the singer-songwriter to exponentially increase his musical output in the world:
“For me, I just love writing songs. If I write a song and it feels like it makes sense for me to sing it, then I’ll sing it. But if I write a song and it doesn’t make sense for me to sing it based on the story or the vibe, and I think that there’s a better fit, I just love to see my music in the world. I don’t just make music so that I can listen to it by myself in my house, I have a desire to get it out into the world. So writing for other people gives me all the opportunities I need to get those songs out and in other ways. Let’s say I feature on maybe four artists’ songs this year, and then I put out a 12 or 13-song album, that’s 17 songs that I can put out in a year. But if I write 100 songs that I think are worthy of being heard, then I need to enlist other artists to help me tell some of those stories because I literally can only put out a finite amount of songs in a year and so whenever I find an artist that’s interested in cutting a song, or write a song with another artist, to me that’s just more opportunities to do what I love and for my music to be heard and for those stories to be told publicly.”
Breland recently appeared in a documentary for Amazon entitled “For Love & Country”, it was a brilliant documentary that highlighted the black artists in country music that are paving the way. In Breland’s segment of the video, it discussed how he and other artists are opening doors for black country artists and Breland specifically confirmed that none of the success means anything if he can’t help elevate the other black artists who are trying to make it in the space. It’s incredibly awe-inspiring, so it made sense to find out about what changes he thinks need to take place within the country music scene. Overall, Breland is keen to see positive change in every area of the music industry, there needs to be more black people working in every part of the country music world and more support from white country artists.
“We need more black people at these country record labels, we need more black people at The publishing companies, at programming, radio stations, marketing… because country music I think is marketed to a very specific audience, that audience is rarely black. So I think all of that matters. I think white artists need to be intentional about writing with, collaborating with, and touring with black artists and black writers and creatives. We need to be more intentional as a genre about what we are and are not comfortable with at our shows because a lot of times at country shows especially in the South of America, you’ll see a bunch of white people waving around confederate flags and that doesn’t create a safe space for black people who might have just wanted to come and enjoy the concert. In that documentary, a young woman said, “All it takes is for that to happen to you once and you’ll probably never go to a country concert again” as it doesn’t feel safe.”
“I think the artists have a responsibility to put their foot down as to what they are and what they aren’t comfortable with. For me, I think if we start with all of those things, and that’s a lot of different things, but they’re all actionable, they are all within our reach, that would do a world of a difference in terms of how country music is perceived and the types of people that would then start to feel comfortable participating in it, listening to it, and coming to the shows. Country music is a genre of storytelling and everyone has a story to tell but I think a lot of black people feel like they are only welcome to tell those stories through Hip-hop and R&B Because country music has not welcomed them and what I want to do is help make this space feel safer and more inclusive in such a way that there are other outlets for artists and creatives to tell their stories.”
With our interview coming to a close, Breland announces that “a bunch of shows” will be happening after Cross Country drops, and he’s extremely excited for people to see the live show as it’s where he shines the most.
“I think my live show is a really big part of my brand and people who have seen me live will know why I say that. The music is great but it’s two-dimensional. When you get to see me live we get to interact and I always talk to the audience and we share moments that can’t be replicated. I would say whether you’re in the UK or anywhere else in the world, definitely try to come out to a show because it’s the thing that I’m putting the most of my energy into right now.”
Photography JIDOH
Fashion Caitriona Oladapo
