Brothers Osborne Aren’t Afraid to Tackle Sensitive Subjects
Brothers Osborne have fearlessness in their blood, and they prove it with "It Ain't My Fault."
The duo's John and TJ Osborne penned the track alongside Kennedy Kelley and Lee Thomas Miller. It's about a guy who rejects responsibility for his reckless actions, and it's become a defining hit for the duo.
"When we recorded it in the studio, I think we knew immediately that we had something that was really special that really defines us and our sound, and I think also defines kind of the whole Pawn Shop record," John tells Taste of Country.
That sense of establishment bleeds over into the music video that scored them a CMA Award for Video of the Year in 2017. The duo will be the first to tell you that they don't back down from topics that are intimidating, much like the political vein that defines the video. While no politics went into the writing of the irresistible track, they weren't afraid to approach the idea of following four criminals on the loose wearing face masks of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in a way that makes light of our nation's political system, a concept they knew was too good to pass up when it was pitched to them.
"I think we knew immediately, 'Wow, this is really different, this is something that I don't think a lot of people would do,' which makes it seem even more appealing to us because we like doing things that other people wouldn't want to do," John describes their reaction.
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Another big draw was the sense of humor that's so prevalent in the video, something they knew was important in keeping it accessible to a wide audience. Flash forward to the present, and the song and video have scored them a CMA Award and a 2018 Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. The fact that the video garnered the attention and approval of the industry in such a politically supercharged climate proves the Brothers' instincts were right on.
"I think in this political climate, we need a little bit of humor when it comes to politics. The political satire thing is something that people like to stay away from and I get it, it's a very hot-button topic, but for us, we're never really too afraid to attack these subjects and go at them head-on," John explains, saying they wanted to make light of both sides of the political aisle.
TJ supports his brother's claim of their fearlessness when tackling controversial subjects head-on. But their main goal with the video was not to divide, but simply make people laugh.
"I think it's something that you haven't really seen before, something new, and I think people are at a time where everything is just so serious and heavy all the time, we've definitely kind of made some fun out of some really heavy topics and I think people appreciate it," TJ says of the video's success.
"We just wanted to kind of put a smile on people's faces," John adds.
Brothers Osborne are currently working on their sophomore album, set to debut sometime in 2018.