By the end of 2021, more Black country musicians could reach the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart than have done so in any one year since the chart launched in 1944. Key to this potential profound evolution is West Orange, N.J., native and Atlanta resident Breland, a highly touted singer-songwriter signed to Atlantic Records. His February country-trap single “My Truck” was certified gold by the RIAA in August, with more triumphs easy to imagine.
Breland’s success is predicated on his ability to thrive in a position where his hit single’s crafty fusion of tropes about drinking liquor and smoking blunts converges with his prodigious musical talent. As Black artists make progress as top sellers in country music — see Lil Nas X’s astonishing chart success with his yeehaw-meets-boom-bap hit “Old Town Road” in 2019 — Breland could be leading the charge.
In a recent video-conference conversation with the Scene, Breland’s replies show off the blend of intellect and empathy that enables his high levels of grace under pressure and his musical aptitude. Breland’s responses to questions about his music-business acumen — he was 24 years old when he began promoting “My Truck” — highlight the wit that factors into his appeal.
“How do you know things about the music industry at 24 that most people don’t know at 48?” I ask.
“Well, I just turned 25,” Breland says. “I learned a lot last year.”
As Breland speaks broadly about his future, his charisma and directness add a certain gravitas.
“We [as Black country artists] are all making revolutionary music right now,” he says. “This impact is nothing as compared to what we’ll see in the future. Perspectives are beginning to soften. Country fans are positively responding to records that encompass not just the genres they love but also that I, as a Black artist, love. Like the greats — the Charley Prides, all of the people who came before me — I intend to make music that connects all people.”
Breland counts Lil Nas X as both a musical inspiration and an online friend. “He opened doors for me!” Breland says. “We’ve never met in person, but we chat over Instagram.” The trail for Black country crossover success that Lil Nas X blazed last year is also very important. “Old Town Road” was one of 2019’s most ubiquitous singles, selling the equivalent of 18.4 million units worldwide — coming in second to the year’s most popular single, Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy.” In the same territory as “Old Town Road,” Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up” benefited from massive TikTok virality in 2019. Earlier this year, RMR’s “Rascal” received considerable critical acclaim for its grim yet novel trap-country take on Rascal Flatts’ cover of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Bless the Broken Road.”
Breland offers a tasty metaphor when discussing the secret ingredient that may allow his trap-tinged, Black country-pop success to continue past his inaugural hit.
“I’m making the musical equivalent of chicken-and-rice dishes right now,” Breland says. “Country’s often used to making chicken and rice with one seasoning. Instead, I’m sampling the whole cabinet of flavors. Ears are like palates to me, and I’m serving familiar dishes in ways that people haven’t experienced before.”
Breland’s success is not only essential because it expands tastes across genres — he’s also unlike any other top-selling Black country artist in history. He’s a gospel-trained vocalist. His musical accomplishments also lean more toward cocaine cowboys than whiskey-soaked outlaws. As a young songwriter and engineer fresh out of Georgetown University, Breland worked with Queens-based and French Montana-affiliated rapper Chinx, who was killed in 2015. Breland absorbed lessons from working with the slain MC that are vital to his country music success.
“I learned to be drawn to melody and hooks first,” Breland says. “It’s not until the third or fourth listen to a song where I’m [concerning] myself with what the song is about, and if that’s resonating with me. On all of those levels — melody, hooks and songwriting — country offers a lot.”
Working in country music has allowed a golden mean to emerge in his work. “My Truck” and other tracks on his Breland EP — like the poppy country-trap ballad “In the Woulds” (a collaboration with mainstream stars Chase Rice and Lauren Alaina) and the groovy, R&B-tinged “Hot Sauce” — have an ear-worming synergy. The EP highlights a desirable middle ground between sonic universes that are stereotypically separate, but that have come closer and closer together in recent years. Breland is unwaveringly confident about his thus-far successful studio strategy.
“I’m always in service and indebted to the song,” he says. “Whatever energy the song needs to be successful, I will provide it. If I share this desire with everyone in the studio, we can make the best version of whatever we’re making.”
He has a candidly positive assessment of the permanence of his music and other similar sounds. With skills like his, there’s no reason to think that his first hit will be his last.
“This moment in country music has the potential to be exponential,” says Breland. “ ‘My Truck’ or any of these [hit country-trap songs by Black artists] could have quickly been deemed accidental hits. But by no means are they. Let’s dispel that notion. As for how I see my future as an artist progressing, I want to continue to make the best — and most undeniably popular — songs possible.”
