With songs that are meant to compliment various artists from Khalid and Carrie Underwood, Brown’s closer to what the average American actually looks like, in a generation where identity is more fluid, and crucial, and debated, than ever. Brown is biracial, and while he hates to be taken as a token, he understands his significance as a rare nonwhite face on Music Row. Nor is he trying to blend in. In Brown, fans see themselves, and it’s resonating far beyond Nashville.
Brown is selling out arenas on his Live Forever Tour, his self-titled LP went platinum, and in 2017 he became the first-ever artist to top all five Billboard country charts at once: Top Country Albums; Country Digital Song Sales, for the double-platinum single “Heaven”; and Country Airplay, Hot Country Songs and Country Streaming Songs for the triple-platinum “What Ifs,” his duet with Lauren Alaina. With each new record, he’s forcing Nashville to reconsider what it means to achieve mainstream success, and how to get there.
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