Brian Kelley—formerly of the duo Florida Georgia Line with Tyler Hubbard—is preparing for the release of his solo project, Tennessee Truth, dropping on May 10. He recently released the single “Kiss My Boots.” Fans are speculating that he just dropped a diss track about his former musical partner.
The song’s focus is on someone who has wronged the speaker. It contains strong lines like, You’ve been throwin’ dirt on my name ’round this town like it ain’t small / Like your friends ain’t my friends, and I wouldn’t end up hearin’ it all. In the chorus, Kelley really ramps it up. He sings, I don’t know how you act sweet after how you did me / Here’s a middle finger to you through a song.
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Initially, it feels like “Kiss My Boots” is aimed at a former lover who did the speaker dirty. However, fans are surmising that Brian Kelley’s new song may secretly be a dig at Hubbard.
These speculations mostly come from an Instagram post Kelley made teasing the song. In the post he wrote, “My mental health coach told me a couple years ago as I was navigating through an extremely difficult, hurtful, and confusing time, ‘the person with the highest emotional intelligence has the highest responsibility.’ So as hard as it was in those moments to take the high road, I took her advice and I sat back and ‘ate my popcorn’. Everyone processes differently. I went inward. And it all came out in a song. Now it’s time for y’all to get your popcorn.”
Brian Kelley Admits He Was Navigating a “Difficult, Hurtful, and Confusing Time”
The video for “Kiss My Boots” also fuels fans’ reactions. It shows Kelley hunting a snake in the grass throughout. In the final scene, he wears a belt buckle emblazoned with the word Florida while he slices up a peach. (Kelley was the Florida half of Florida Georgia Line, while Hubbard’s native Georgia is also known as “The Peach State.”)
Speaking with Holler recently, Brian Kelley addressed the song and what it means to him. “You know, this is a really personal song, it was born from a deep wound and a relationship. It’s a song about betrayal, and I just took a deep dive and put it all out there in a song, just like so many other artists have done over the years.”
He continued, “I really hope that people can find their own ‘Tennessee Truth’ in this song,” —Tennessee Truth is the name of Kelley’s solo project—”What I love about [‘Kiss My Boots’] is I know what it means to me, and I think it has a universal message that people can relate to. A lot of people have been betrayed, and so I hope that this song helps them as much as it has helped me.”
Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Big Machine Label Group