Brett Young’s 4th Number One
It was party time at Nashville Underground Wednesday afternoon. A mix of friends, family and Nashville music biz execs were on hand to mark Brett Young’s Number One hit, ‘Mercy.’ The song, co-written by Young and Sean McConnell, was the fourth consecutive Number One from Young’s debut self-titled album.
Chalking up four Number Ones is an achievement for any artist. When those four are also consecutive chart-toppers AND all from an artist’s debut studio album, that achievement puts Young up there where the air is rare. Additionally, all four have been certified Platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
It says so on the shirt!
To mark that remarkable feat, Brett Young’s label team at BMLG (Big Machine Label Group) and producer Dann Huff surprised Young with a special ‘uniform.’ They came onstage wearing tee-shirts with the number ‘4’ across the front. Young put on his own ‘4’ shirt and posed for photos as he was presented with a unique ‘4 #1s’ plaque.
Those ‘uniforms’ might have reminded Young of what could have been a different career path. A stand-out high school pitcher, he was scouted by both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins. But following an elbow injury, he focused on a career in music. Baseball’s loss is country music’s gain.
Before the presentation of the awards, Young and co-writer McConnell took questions from music industry media. Young was asked if having a Platinum-certified album and four Platinum singles added to the pressure or took the pressure off. Young said, “It makes me feel responsible now to achieve growth.”
Success with ‘relatable’ songs
Responding to a question about ‘In Case You Didn’t Know,’ Young said that the song wasn’t meant to be about any specific relationship. Rather, he saw it as reflecting the way that everybody feels when they are in a relationship, and so they can relate to the song. Similarly, he said that ‘Mercy’ was a song he knew he could sing with feeling. “It’s so relatable,” he added.
Sean McConnell has numerous cuts including songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Meat Loaf, Rascal Flatts, Scotty McCreery, Brothers Osborne, Brad Paisley and more. His songs have also been heard on the TV show Nashville.
New album due December 7
Young’s four consecutive Number Ones are: ‘Sleep Without You,’ ‘In Case You Didn’t Know,’ ‘Like I loved You’ and ‘Mercy.’ His next album, ‘Ticket to L.A.,’ is scheduled for release by BMLG on December 7, 2018. Young has said that the album’s title was inspired by his frequent trips back to his home in California before he moved to Nashville four years ago.
Once again, Dann Huff was tapped to produce. The first single from the album, ‘Here Tonight,’ dropped September 14.
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com
Both Brett Young and Jesse Lee might seem like newcomers, but as with most successful people, that isn’t really the case. At the media session, Brett noted that he’d been playing and performing for 14 years before moving to Nashville.
Speaking about the diversity of his musical styles and interests, Brett said, “I grew up with rhythm and blues and soul music, so You will hear the soul in my music.”