Florida Georgia Line & Nelly's "Cruise" at 10: Its Story & Its Impact
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“Cruise” would eventually take the top spot on the Hot Country Songs chart from Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” another take on Millennial-friendly country-pop crossover. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of August 11, 2012.[22] On the chart dated December 15, 2012, it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart in only its 19th week, achieving the fastest climb to the top of the chart for a debut single since Heartland's "I Loved Her First" in October 2006.
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Its massive success colored much of what came after its 24 record-breaking weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart, whether that was songs trying to imitate it or the tidal wave of critical backlash. The year was 2012 when a previously-unknown duo called Florida Georgia Line, made up of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, took over country radio waves with their feel-good, debut single, "Cruise." The song and the duo soon caught fire, and it's a flame that has yet to run out. Not only did "Cruise" reach the No. 1 spot on the Country Airplay chart, but it spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, an accomplishment that has only been surpassed by Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road." It certainly makes sense that hip-hop influences felt as intuitive for FGL-generation country artists as for any others who have come of age since hip-hop became mainstream pop. Watching Nelly perform alongside the duo, though, is a stark reminder of how in that exchange of ideas, the money tends to only flow one way; that while it might feel like hip-hop is “in [FGL’s] DNA,” it’s not. The intervening years have brought more efforts by both FGL and Nelly (among a number of other well-intentioned and like-minded artists) to correct that inequity.
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When “Cruise” was released in August 2012, it was an immediate hit with fans of country music. The song’s catchy hook, infectious melody, and party-oriented lyrics struck a chord with listeners across the United States. The push and pull between progressive-minded inclusion and the genre-agnostic artistry it can create, and appropriation — from barely perceptible to egregious and everything in between — lives within “Cruise” and its legacy. The song’s victory, though, was the integration of a Black hip-hop artist into a huge hit that anyone asked would call country, and the destruction, however temporarily, of the fundamental, racist genre divide that has defined American recorded music from the start.
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"It's really cool to be, from the start of that song on a couch in the house, to the studio, to singing it live and getting an award, to it being No. 1. It's the best feeling in the world and we're really humbled to be a part of such a special song," Kelley said. "All of a sudden Brian [Kelley] pops up and strums a chord and starts humming this melody," Chase Rice told Radio.com. "That ended up being the 'Cruise' melody, and we looked at each other, all of us three, and we were like, 'What the hell is that?' He was like, 'I don't know, but we should write it.' As we got more into it, we completely dropped the other song we were writing that day, and I'm glad we did." Now "Cruise" has been nominated an Academy of Country Music Award for Single of the Year.
The track was first released as the opening track for their EP It'z Just What We Do, but was also added, along with the rest of the EP, to their debut studio album for Republic Nashville, titled Here’s to the Good Times, also as the opening track. The "Cruise (Remix)" was released to iTunes on April 2, 2013 and then to pop radio later. Two music videos exist for the song — one with Hubbard and Kelley for the original version and one with Nelly for the remix. Perhaps most importantly, “Cruise” helped redefine the sound of contemporary country music. The song incorporated elements of hip-hop and pop music into its sound, paving the way for a new generation of country artists who would continue to push the boundaries of the genre.
The chorus of the song was inspired by a chant that a fraternity brother of Kelley’s used to do. Every hit song has its own unique origin story, but few are as intertwined with serendipity and chance as “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line. The country duo, consisting of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, first met in 2008 while attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. In early 2013, Florida Georgia Line toured the United States as part of the Dirt Road Diaries Tour with Thompson Square and headlining act Luke Bryan.[22] In June 2013, the album reached number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.[23] It stayed at the top spot for ten weeks. In December 2011, they signed to the Big Loud label[8] and in 2012, they released their second EP, It'z Just What We Do, which charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
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The tune was followed by countless more hits, including "H.O.L.Y.," "Meant To Be" with Bebe Rexha and many more. Today, FGL continues to reign among the top male country acts such as Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and more. Beyond its commercial success, “Cruise” has also influenced a new wave of country artists who are embracing a more diverse and experimental sound. Florida Georgia Line themselves have continued to evolve their style, releasing songs like “H.O.L.Y.” and “Meant to Be” that showcase their ability to blend country, pop, and R&B into something truly unique.
The album's fourth single, "Stay", was released in October 2013.[17] It was co-written and originally recorded by Black Stone Cherry, produced by Joey Moi and the music video featured Josh Henderson.[18] It reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart and the Country Airplay chart in December 2013. The remix peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100, with the song spending 54 weeks total on the chart; it reached the top 10 on the Adult and Mainstream Top 40 charts as well, cementing its crossover appeal. Overall, the song is platinum 14 times over — diamond and then some — as of last October. All Billboard chart metrics and RIAA certifications combine the numbers for the original version with the remix, so it’s hard to know which record ultimately proved to be the most popular. But there’s no question that it was the remix that sparked “Cruise” to ubiquity — to the impossible-to-ignore success that made the song the line between one era of country music and another. The original song and the remix with rapper Nelly have sold 7 million copies in the US, leading to "Cruise" becoming the best-selling country digital song of all time and earning Diamond status (11x Platinum).
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Kelley and Hubbard bonded over their shared love of country music and started writing and performing together. However, the turning point came when they decided to attend a songwriter’s night at a local venue in December 2011. This is where they met songwriter Joey Moi, who was impressed with their vocal harmonies and songwriting skills. “The very first time we worked in the studio together, it was partially about breaking them of the mentality that going in to record the song doesn’t mean it’s done,” says Moi. “Let’s dig back into these lyrics and make this better.” So they tinkered, “tightening the screws” on the lyrics, as Kelley describes it, for a few hours — distilling the song’s core idea into a pop monolith.
When the song reached its tenth week atop Hot Country Songs on May 18, 2013, it became the second song (Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together") to spend that many weeks at No. 1 since Buck Owens's "Love's Gonna Live Here" (16 weeks between October 1963 and February 1964). On August 24, 2013, it logged its 24th week at No. 1, the longest run at No. 1 in the chart's 69-year history (the previous record was 21 weeks held jointly by three songs, the last of which was Webb Pierce's "In the Jailhouse Now" from February to June 1955). On November 9, 2013, the song logged its 66th and final week on the Hot Country Songs chart,[23] setting a new all-time record of 56 weeks, previously held jointly by "Love Like Crazy" by Lee Brice and "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes, and just the sixth song to spend 52 or more weeks on the chart during a single chart run. The song-about-a-song is a straightforward-sounding, meticulously-constructed earworm that hinges on the most appealing and specific version of the now-ubiquitous masculine country checklist (lusty descriptions of women, backroads, trucks). It turned out to be something of a “generational gauntlet,” as critic Jody Rosen puts it — particularly in the form of its blockbuster Nelly-featuring remix, released 10 years ago this week.
Song of the Day for August 19: "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line - WGCU
Song of the Day for August 19: "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line.
Posted: Thu, 18 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It was filmed outside Nashville, and featured the duo driving and performing against an American flag backdrop at a colorful paint party, and showed shots of women as well as a game of strip poker.[21] In the remix, it features the duo, Nelly, and another friend of theirs, driving down a road. It shows shots of women on vehicles and riding with the men in the men's cars as they go down the country roads. "The melody is catchy. The lyrics are easy to remember and easy to sing along to, it's not too wordy," Rice explained.
The song began when Kelley, Chase Rice and Jesse Rice (no relation) were sitting in Jesse's living room one afternoon. They had been writing another song when Kelley started playing something very different. "Every time you think something's right, he comes in and changes everything," Michael Hutchence said.
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