Why Kane Brown Is Credited on Florida Georgia Line’s New #1

Florida Georgia Line has the #1 song on country radio this week with their latest single “I Love My Country,” or at least according to MediaBase. Soon the duo and their songwriters will be celebrating this accomplishment as these mainstream acts do whenever a song hits #1. But buried deep in the songwriting credits and the history of this song is one of the most uncovered scandals in country music in 2020.

When Florida Georgia Line first released the song on March 27, 2020, the writers for “I Love My Country” were credited as the duo’s new producer Corey Crowder, along with Ernest K. Smith, and Charlie Handsome (real name Ryan Vojtesak). However now when you look at the credits of the song, there are three new names in the songwriter list: Chase McGill, Will Weatherly, and fellow pop country performer Kane Brown.

Was “I Love My Country” the duo’s first collaboration with Kane Brown? Not exactly. As Saving Country Music first pointed out when reviewing “I Love My Country,” the chorus of the song wasn’t just eerily similar to Kane Brown’s song “Short Skirt Weather,” it was almost the exact same. A Sir Mashalot mashup of the two choruses pretty much corroborated that opinion.

Since Kane Brown’s “Short Skirt Weather” was first released on September 28th, 2018 ahead of his latest album Experiment, it would seem to be that he was the first to write the chorus along with his co-writers. Lo and behold, when Florida Georgia Line announced the track list for their recent EP 6-Pack on May 6th, Kane Brown, Chase McGill, and Will Weatherly were all now credited on the track. In other words, the Florida Georgia Line camp fessed up to either lifting the chorus, or to it coming so close for comfort it couldn’t be denied.

Saving Country Music has poked around to try and determine how Kane Brown and his co-writers ended up with credits on the track—if it was an amicable decision or if legal volleys were involved. But for obvious reasons, Florida Georgia Line’s people aren’t interested in broadcasting that the chorus was lifted or borrowed, and Kane Brown and his people are getting paid, so no reason to rock the boat.

But everyone should understand when they see all the celebration surrounding Florida Georgia Line’s new #1 song, Kane and his co-writers deserve just as much credit. Whether it’s on purpose or on accident, two pop country songs ended up with the same basic chorus, underscoring the intrinsic sameness and insular nature of most mainstream country music in 2020.

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