Country newcomer BRELAND (real name Daniel Breland) introduces his unique brand of music with debut ... [+]
Country newcomer BRELAND (real name Daniel Breland) introduces his unique brand of music with debut album, Cross Country, available today. The project blends country, hip-hop, R&B, gospel and pop for a memorable sound that the singer describes as “cross country.”
“I want people to feel like there's something for them on it regardless of what type of music you grew up listening to or typically listen to,” BRELAND tells me. “We've got something on here for everyone and I think being able to do that while still rooting it in country music is really powerful and lends itself to some of the songwriting that I was able to exhibit on the project.
“The goal is that everyone has something that they can vibe to, but also I wanted it to be a joyful project and a project that feels light and hopefully energizes people and inspires them.”
Cross Country contains 14 tracks, all co-written by BRELAND. Five of the songs are collaborations, featuring Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, Lady A, Mickey Guyton and Ingrid Andress. The singer has built his career on collaboration, including 2019 breakthrough hit “My Truck” featuring Sam Hunt and his first CMA nomination “Beers On Me” with Dierks Bentley and HARDY.
BRELAND says he didn’t want his debut project to be collab heavy since this is his first real opportunity to share his stories and express himself across songs.
“There are a few collabs that I've done that did not make it onto the project, not that I don't love those songs they just didn't fit as cleanly with my overall sonic and creative vision for the album,” he explains. “I'm really grateful for each of the features that are on the project and all of the other features that I have coming and people whose songs I've featured on. … All of those songs have been great opportunities for me to tell other stories and express myself in different ways, too.”
A New Jersey native, BRELAND grew up writing songs. He remembers creating jingles as young as four, but says it wasn’t until his early teens that he wrote his first song. While he attended Georgetown University, BRELAND began to take music more seriously. He penned one song a day and estimates that it took 1,000 songs before another artist recorded his music.
In 2018, BRELAND relocated to Atlanta, where a few other artists recorded his songs. By 2019, he had 12 major label releases, which prompted the songwriter to give his artistry a shot. He released “My Truck” later that year and the song quickly went viral and became his first platinum certified record by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 2020, he relocated to Nashville. In the two years since, the singer has performed at nearly every country music awards show as well as garnered his first No. 1 single at radio with “Beers On Me.” While his first year in Music City was a whirlwind, BRELAND says he now makes sure to take the time to process and appreciate each success and failure along the way.
“Back in November of last year, things got to slow down a little bit,” he says. “I hadn’t really had time to process anything and was like, ‘OK, there has to be a better way for me to go through life.’ I want to be more present. I want to be more actively grateful, and I want to be more intentional with the words that I use to describe what's happening. Coming into this year it's been a really big focus of mine.”
These lessons can be heard throughout Cross Country. On the reflective “Growing Pains” BRELAND sings, “I’ve been working on the words I choose and how I see myself/ ‘Cause if you can’t see the good in you then how can someone else?”
“It’s very poppy,” he says of the song. “It’s fun, but it has a real message to it. I’m talking about all the things that I tell myself, just recognizing that growth is not always a linear process.”
Feel-good opening track “Here For It” featuring Andress also touches upon these realizations. A song about being a good friend and an active participant in someone’s life, “Here For It” is a friendship song BRELAND says details being more present for the people in his life and the moments that matter.
Previously released “Natural” tips its hat to Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” While it’s not a direct interpolation, BRELAND gives songwriting credit to original writers Twain and Robert John “Mutt” Lange on the track.
“What she’s accomplished and where she comes from and the doors that she's opened up for country music and women of country music globally, it's just a great story,” BRELAND says of Twain. “Getting a chance to watch the documentary on her was eye opening as well.”
BRELAND is no stranger to speaking up for women and the need for more inclusion within the country genre. He discussed the overturning of Roe V. Wade earlier this year on social media and shared a thoughtful op-ed on the cancelation of Morgan Wallen for CMT.
“I speak out on things because I have a platform to be able to do that and I think that I have a unique point of view in being able to do that,” he explains. “I definitely have used my platform to talk about a lot of issues that have come up and I've done it in in my music as well.
“This project isn't political necessarily, but it is political in the sense that I am me. I am a Black dude in country music, and I'm combining a lot of different genres and making a project that isn't traditionally country and I know how that might be received by some more traditional country listeners. Hopefully I'm building bridges … and providing a gateway for people. I think when you do that and give common ground musically, it opens the door for some of these types of conversations that I've helped initiate whether on social media or in real life.”
BRELAND’s Cross Country album is out now.
BRELAND's 'Cross Country' album is available now.
