Tyler Hubbard‘s 18-track eponymous debut album as a solo artist is out now. By his own admission, it’s a happy chapter in his musical journey that he never anticipated, until his former Florida Georgia Line duo partner, Brian Kelley, revealed he wanted to start making music on his own.
“This was sort of a surprise. This was a career shift, and a big transition for me — going from being in a duo, Florida Georgia Line, to now stepping into this new season of being a solo artist,” Hubbard tells Entertainment Tonight. “And what that looks like and feels like, it’s been really exciting. But it was definitely unexpected and something that BK came to me and wanted to do. And it took me a minute to kind of process that. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just be a songwriter, and I won’t do the artist thing.'”
Hubbard never predicted anything beyond being part of the massively successful duo, but once the opportunity presented itself to make music on his own, he slowly latched on to the idea.
“Then, shortly thereafter, I was like, ‘Yeah, I really miss making records and touring and all that,'” Hubbard says. “It’s been really fun to kind of step into this new season and connect with the fans.”
When Hubbard decided to write for his own album, he made them as autobiographical and personal as he could, including a song, “Miss My Daddy,” written about the loss of his father, Roy, in 2007 in a helicopter accident.
“Several of these songs were very personal, [and] just came out of different things I was going through and where we were at,” Hubbard says. “And that was 2020. So, the world was going through what we were going through. A lot of these songs just felt really real and authentic.”
Once Hubbard did decide to do his own album, he never once wavered in his decision.
“Once I accepted that and kind of acknowledged, ‘All right, I’m gonna do this. I’m going to make an album and pursue the solo artist thing and give it all I got,’ it was really fun to do, to look at all the songs I had written over the last year,” he admits. “And then, also, kind of shift and transition my headspace when I was writing.”
For more than a decade, country music fans knew Hubbard as part of Florida Georgia Line. Now the father of three says he hopes his can know him much better than before, especially with his solo record.
“I wanted the fans to get to know me on a personal level and I wanted them to feel something, to feel anything, whether it be make you laugh, making you cry, making you nostalgic or thinking about the past or whatever the case may be,” Hubbard shares with his record label. “I just want my music to make you feel, and I hope that’s what this album does, and I hope you guys love it from track one to track 18.”
Hubbard’s debut single from the project, “5 Foot 9,” became a No. 1 hit. His new single, “Dancin’ In the Country,” features America’s Got Talent star Terry Crews in the video. Find all of Hubbard’s music and tour dates at TylerHubbardOfficial.com.
