Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, also known as the Florida Georgia Line, cemented their name in country music after a remix of their single “Cruise” featuring singer-producer Nelly became a viral phenomenon in 2013. The music video generated over 80 million views at the time it was published (and over 142 million now), and the song hit milestones after milestones though it was a slow climb to the top. It peaked at number 4 on the Hot 100 chart after 34 weeks but logged 24 weeks at the top of Hot Country Songs. It was the longest-running number-one single on the chart until it was dethroned by Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” in 2017.
A year later, the duo released another hit featuring another country singer Luke Bryan. The song “This Is How We Roll” was loved by fans especially noting the nice touch of adding rock elements to the single.
After two major hits in a row, Florida Georgia Line became known not only as a country hitmaker but as one of the top singers in the genre. Since then, they have been releasing songs every now and then and touring different cities and states. Although the songs weren’t making as much sound as “Cruise” and “This Is How We Roll.”
In 2017, the duo made an unexpected comeback to the top with a career-defining country-pop collaboration with singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha titled “Meant to Be.” The Albanian, Brooklyn-born singer was at the height of her career at the time, which pushed the song to become even more popular. The song easily became a smash skyrocketing at number one on the Hot Country Songs chart for a record 50 weeks and even landed at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also took over like a storm, becoming the number one hit on every music streaming platform. In 2019, “Meant to Be” even earned a Grammy nomination. And now, the song has already generated over a billion views on YouTube.
The duo received more attention after that powerful comeback, guesting at multiple popular TV shows and magazines, including Ellen DeGeneres’ and People’s magazine. They also kicked off their genre-defying country music tour called ‘The Smooth Tour’ in the same year featuring big names just like Nelly, Chris Lane, Morgan Wallen, and Backstreet Boys. After that, they also released another collaboration song where they featured alongside WATT in actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld and Alesso’s song called “Let Me Go.” While it wasn’t as omnipresent as their past hits, the song still created a global buzz and reached a hundred million views on YouTube.
Then everything slowed down for Florida Georgia Line. They still released and charted songs and featured in many other artists’ tracks, but they weren’t ringing so many bells around. There were even rumors floating around that behind the stage, the two weren’t peachy with each other due to political differences. That is, Tyler and his wife Hayley Hubbard, who were vocal supporters of Kamala Harris, unfollowed Brian Kelley on Instagram after Kelley’s wife Britney slammed Joe Biden supporters.
Is it the end of an era for the Florida Georgia Line? Are they breaking up?
The duo guested on SiriusXM’s Exit 209 with Storme Warren to finally address the issue. Tyler admitted that he did unfollow his bandmate for political reasons, but he did give Brian a heads-up by calling him. He explained how he still love him and that they would always be brothers, but he just didn’t want to see some things every time he opened Instagram. And so, it was no big deal between the two of them.
And this was not the first time that they butted heads together. The duo shared that they went to therapy before wanting to kill each other at times. But at the end of the day, they were still brothers, and they hugged it out.
Earlier in 2021, Florida Georgia Line went on to release their fifth studio album titled ‘Life Rolls On,’ where they hinted at launching solo careers, which meant the duo would be on a hiatus. But at the time, Brian clarified that they are not going their separate ways. Then in the middle of the year, the two surprised fans with a new song with Nelly titled “Lil Bit”. This led to speculations that they were back together again.
Unfortunately, months later, they hinted that there were no plans for them to work together after their summer 2022 tour. Many thought that there was bad blood between the duo, but Tyler said that he and Brian did not actually have anything between them on a personal level, and they are still friends. Tyler said that after 10 years, they just wanted to spend their time individually, but they will still continue to support each other with their respective careers. Because that’s what brothers do.
Florida Georgia Line has released five studio albums with 19 singles as lead artists. They also have 18 chart-topping hits on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, and Canada Country charts.
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Brian Kelley, Florida Georgia Line, Tyler Hubbard