Honestly, I’m surprised it took 4 years.
Back in 2022 when Florida Georgia Line announced they were splitting as a duo and going their separate ways, I predicted that it would take about two years before we got a reunion between Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard. I think everybody knew it wasn’t permanent: Both of them attempted solo careers, and despite some minor success for each of them, it was nothing compared to the success they had as a duo.
Of course, there were also some personal issues to work through. It was a messy breakup, and at the time there was speculation that politics may have played a part in the split after Hubbard unfollowed Kelley on social media during the 2020 election. (Hubbard and his wife Hayley supported Joe Biden, while Kelley and his wife Brittney supported Donald Trump).
Both denied that it had to do with politics, with Hubbard blaming the split on Kelley wanting to pursue a solo career on the side, something that he didn’t think would work:
“I don’t have capacity to do two careers. And also it’s going to get super sticky. When we’re writing songs, who are we writing for? When we got two show offers, an FGL date and a solo date, what are we taking?
I’m like, I don’t even logistically see how that would work, much less emotionally.”
Kelley, however, said that it was actually Hubbard recorded solo music first, going behind his back and recording a song with Tim McGraw that he would later perform at the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden:
“Tyler had solo music out before I even did. Before we even got our fifth album out, he had released a couple songs, he had played Biden’s inauguration which was a huge look to be a solo act with Tim McGraw. He released another song. I didn’t start releasing music ’til April…
He was rockin’ at radio immediately, top of January of 2021 and I didn’t get music out ’til April and then the album in June.”
All that to say, it wasn’t an amicable split and there were plenty of hurt feelings on both sides of the Florida/Georgia line.
But over the past few months, there have been signs that the two have been working on healing their relationship. Hubbard and Kelley were spotted together at the CMA Awards last year for the first time, and during an appearance on the Human School Podcast late last year, Hubbard revealed that the two were actively working to repair their friendship and planned on spending some time together.
The rumors of a reunion reached a fever pitch when the duo reunited for the first time since the split to honor Jason Aldean during Broken Bow Records’ annual late night bash during Country Radio Seminar.
And last month, Hubbard confirmed that a reunion was in the cards and likely to happen next year:
“We have been toying around and flirting with the idea of playing a handful of shows next year.”
Well this past weekend at CMA Fest, the long-expected reunion finally happened when Florida Georgia Line made a surprise appearance at Nissan Stadium:
And for anybody who thought (or was hoping) that it was just a one-off appearance for a special occasion…well, it appears that they’re gearing up for a full-fledged comeback.
According to Music Row, the group has not only signed an agent but have also inked a manager to handle their business as a duo once again.
It was announced this week that Florida Georgia Line has signed with CAA, the Creative Artists Agency, for representation, and has brought on The Core Entertainment for management. With these pieces of their team in place, it seems that Florida Georgia Line is actually ready to make their comeback, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the duo popping up on some shows and festivals in the near future.
I mean, it’s easy to see why they would want to team up once again: Florida Georgia Line was one of the most successful acts of the 2010s, paving the way (for better or worse) for the “bro-country” era of the last decade. They spent a record 50 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and sold over 5 million albums worldwide during their career.
Now, by the end of their run together their sales had fallen dramatically amid a changing sound in country music. Artists like Chris Stapleton were starting to dominate, and the bro-country sound had started to become a punchline and looked down on as cliché and shallow. Their last album as a duo, Life Goes On, was their first to NOT reach #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, and it didn’t even crack the top 20 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart.
I guess it remains to be seen whether the break was long enough that country music is ready to embrace them once again, or whether it will simply be a nostalgia play from their fans who miss the summer of 2014. Either way, it sounds like we’ll be seeing FGL back on the road very soon.
We all knew it would happen sooner or later. Some of us were just hoping it would be later…much, much later.
