Brett Young Plans to Keep Spilling Tea on His Personal Life
Brett Young isn't afraid to get personal. Mr. Sensitive isn't afraid to relive his most vulnerable moments in song or conversation to the point that — if you don't have the backbone for these emotional hemorrhages — it feels like oversharing.
His new album, Ticket to L.A. (Dec. 7), is brighter with more heart emojis than the at-times dark and beautifully moody debut that featured hits in "Mercy" and "Like I Loved You." It's just as personal, though. There are more songs about his relationship with now-wife Taylor Mills and one nose-to-tail autobiography. Like his eponymous debut, Ticket to L.A. ends with a savage heartbreaker that's begging you to draw conclusions.
But hold off on that. Young — a man who admits he still sleeps with his childhood blankie, who bawled several times during his wedding and who loves Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days — does have boundaries, but he knows that once the walls get too thick, he's finished as an artist.
"I don’t see another way to expect fans to connect to my music if they don’t feel like I'm connected to my music, and the only way I know to be connected is for it to be vulnerable and honest," the "Here Tonight" singer says. Not surprisingly, his personal tastes in music lean towards artists who are equally courageous with their emotions.
As Young started to become popular and his songs began to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart, the hot-and-cold nature of his relationship with Mills started to come into focus. They dated for six years and broke up before finally rekindling that old flame in 2017. The couple married last month in California. So much of Brett Young is inspired by her, and he admits hearing "You Ain't Here to Kiss Me" is not her favorite thing. Now married, he looks back on that turbulent time with pride knowing they treated each other well through it all.
"No one cheated. No one lied. No one did each other wrong — it just wasn't working," he shares.
A few fans were a little overzealous in defending him as they started a path to the altar, but for the most part they've been supportive and respectful. The truth is that no song tells the whole story — something to keep in mind as you play detective with this new project.
"Songwriting is kind of like those movies that say, 'based on a true story,'" he says. "If you just wrote down the details, there's not a lot of artistry there. When you listen to that first record, there's a lot of, 'based on a true story.'"
What Songs Were Inspired by Taylor? Find Out Here!
"Here Tonight" is a big love song on Ticket to L.A., but Young says he's most excited for fans to hear "Catch," a play on words he wrote with Ross Copperman and Ashley Gorley. I think we did it right.
"I think it's opposite of what we're used to, where a guy goes into a bar not trying to meet a girl and gets blown away by accident," Young says.
As a whole it's a less provocative album, which may be coincidence or by design. After all, just because he's cool with spilling relationship tea doesn't mean his wife is. "There are absolutely things that need to be private. The song keeps it at surface level," he says. "If I ever get to a point where I don’t want my fans to be interested in my personal life, I think that will be when I’ve run my course as an artist. I think that is by definition exactly what I do."
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