Tyler Hubbard has a second No. 1 hit. After his debut single as a solo artist, “5 Foot 9” hit No. 1, Hubbard is reprising his position at the top of the charts with “Dancin’ In The Country,” a song he wrote with Keith Urban, Ross Copperman and Jon Nite.
“Having a second No. 1, one year to the day after my debut solo single was released, is really incredible,” Hubbard says. “It’s been an amazing year, and I’m thankful to country radio and the fans for embracing my music, and to Keith, Ross and Jon for sharing their creative genius with me.”
“Dancin’ In The Country” is the title track of his recent EP, released last year ahead of his eponymous debut album. The song was inspired by his wife, Hayley, and their three children.
“Me and the three kids and my wife, we go in the playroom, turn the party lights on just about every night and have a dance party,” Hubbard explains. “So, this is one of those songs that always worked in the dance parties and feels like something that’ll be really fun to take on tour and play live and hopefully get the crowd moving the way the kids do during the dance parties.”
Hubbard enlisted Terry Crews, host of America’s Got Talent, to star in the “Dancin’ In The Country” video with him.
“We knew we kind of wanted to go big on this ‘Dancin’ In The Country’ video,” Hubbard shares with UMG Nashville. “We had a really cool treatment, a cool concept that sort of required an iconic actor, if you will, an iconic face – somebody that would stand out and bring this story to life and really do it justice. So, we started a list, me and the team, sort of dream people and at the top of the list was Terry Crews.”
Hubbard spent a decade as one-half of the Florida Georgia Line duo with Brian Kelley. But when Kelley decided he wanted to focus on a solo career instead, Hubbard began working on his own music as well, an unexpected new chapter that he wholeheartedly embraced.
“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.’”
Although being a solo artist wasn’t Hubbard’s original plan, once he made peace with the different direction, the Georgia native never looked back.
“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,” Hubbard shares. “And then, also, kind of shift and transition my headspace when I was writing.”
Hubbard also recently released the original demo of “Dancin’ In The Country,” featuring Urban. Find all of Hubbard’s music and tour dates at TylerHubbardOfficial.com.