It’s like an annoying cough that you just can’t seem to get rid of.
Florida Georgia Line are obviously pioneers of the whole “bro-country” mess of the 2010s. For better or worse, it’s hard to deny their influence on nearly an entire decade of country music, shifting the sound from the songs that appealed to suburban moms to appeal to a younger, more party-driven group of listeners.
Whether it was good for country music is obviously a matter of opinion. It’s no secret where I stand: That whole era was trash and calling it country was an insult to the country music greats. But there’s no denying that it took “country music,” or some form of it, to new heights by pushing the genre over to the pop side and attracting an entirely new audience.
Luckily over the last half of the 2010s we started to see a shift away from the “bro-country” sound, with more artists choosing to embrace elements of traditional country music like the fiddle, steel guitar and…you know, actual live music instead of pre-recorded trap beats. And while there are still some artists who seem desperate to cling to the dying corpse of bro-country, mainstream country music is undeniably in a better place than it was a decade ago.
As the sound of country music began to change, Florida Georgia Line saw their popularity began to fall off too. Their debut album, Here’s To The Good Times, was certified double platinum and sold over two million units, and each of their first four albums reached the top of the country charts. But by the time they released their final album, Life Rolls On, back in 2021, country music had largely left their sound behind and the album managed to peak at #3 on the country charts and #21 on the all-genre album chart. And their last two albums failed to produce a #1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at all.
Back in 2022, the duo of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard announced that they would be splitting up and going in their own directions as they pursued solo careers, putting a merciful end to Florida Georgia Line and thrilling fans of traditional country music.
But like a rash that won’t seem to go away, we still can’t seem to get rid of FGL.
Today, two “new” Florida Georgia Line songs were released on streaming services for the first time. But to longtime Florida Georgia Line fans (who, let’s be honest, probably aren’t reading this anyway), they may not be entirely new.
The songs “What Are You Drinking About” and “Country In My Soul” were originally released as part of a Target exclusive deluxe version of the band’s debut album, Here’s To The Good Times, which was released in 2012. And in 2013, they released another deluxe edition of the album called Here’s To The Good Times…This Is How We Roll, which featured some remixes, live versions and acoustic performances of the hits from the original album.
And while they occasionally performed “Country In My Soul” during their live shows, the two songs from the Target exclusive album have never been officially released to streaming…until now. Because you just know that everybody was sitting here in the year of our Lord 2025 begging for those two FGL bonus tracks to make it to Spotify.
While it doesn’t seem like we’re ever going to be able to fully move on from FGL, from comments made by Hubbard and Kelley it sounds like a reunion is still pretty unlikely at this point. They’ve both given their sides of what led to the split, and it wasn’t exactly mutual: Kelley wanted them to pursue their solo careers while continuing on as Florida Georgia Line, but Hubbard was ready to do his own thing and leave FGL behind.
Kelley also says he was blindsided by Hubbard’s decision to perform at President Joe Biden’s inauguration back in 2021, and fans noticed that the two had unfollowed each other on social media during the 2020 election after Kelley and his wife publicly supported Donald Trump.
All that to say, it was a messy breakup and it sounds like there are plenty of hard feelings that make it seem like the chances of a reunion are pretty unlikely right now.
Luckily (I say sarcastically), there’s “new” music from Florida Georgia Line for anybody who’s wanting it…for whatever reason.
