Kane Brown just dropped “I Can Feel It,” which might be a good indication of what his next album will sound like. The 29-year-old, who just announced his In the Air Tour, is using his live shows to dictate what he wants his new record to sound like.

“I took all the slow songs out of my set, even though that’s like my bread and butter, the slow music, but I don’t like to play it on stage,” Brown tells Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “I like to keep the show energized, keep the fans moving. I don’t want them to go get a beer. That’s what I’m going to focus on for the most part, for this new album.”

Brown doesn’t know all of the songs that will be on his next project, but he vows to only include the ones that he really, really loves.

“it’s definitely tough, but we’re working on it,” says the singer. “We got, I think, three so far. I’ve recorded eight songs, but I think that… for sure, I’ve only got three.”

One of the three is a song that Brown says is one of the favorites he has ever released, and predicts it will win a major award after it is released.

“I’ve got another song called ‘Be a Boy’ that I think is going to be probably Song of the Year,” Brown hints. “It’s just so well written… it’s a definite one, so I’ll say one of the three.”

Brown credits his recent performance at Stagecoach with becoming the surprising inspiration for “I Can Feel It,” which he made sure included Phil Collins as a songwriter.

“We started a new album and we didn’t know if we were going to bring another single from the last album, Different Man,” Brown says. “And then we got ahold of this one. I was going to play Stagecoach, I was going to headline and we were looking for a legendary artist to come out with us. We were talking about Phil Collins, we’re talking about Cher, just random people that nobody would think about. And so we went into the writer’s room in Canada the next day and we had Phil Collins on our mind.”

 

The father of two has built a successful career by mixing genres, but says his next record will stay true to his love of country music.

“I’m really excited,” Brown tells Pure Country. “We usually have a huge variety. I usually have pop stuff on there, but so far, this album has just been pop country, and then we have some really traditional country songs. George Strait actually had one on hold that didn’t get cut, so I took it.”

Brown will be joined on his In The Air Tour by Chris Young, Tyler Hubbard, Cole Swindell, Jon Pardi and Bailey Zimmerman. He recently received the ACM International Award at the ACM Honors, an accolade that means a lot to Brown, especially considering his humble beginnings.

“It feels awesome being honored, especially for the International Award, just because me growing up, I didn’t really get to travel much as a kid,” Brown said ahead of the ceremony. “From Georgia to Florida is the farthest I went. And now I’m in Australia, Europe, Canada. It just feels amazing to have fans outside of the United States, let alone inside. I’m so proud of them, and just want to thank them for helping me get my music out there.”

All of Brown’s music and upcoming shows can be found at KaneBrownMusic.com.