Blanco Brownhas a gripe with the current state of music. And when you are a man who got a second chance at life not too long ago, you aren’t afraid to say those gripes out loud for all the world to hear.So here goes.“When you listen to country music, R&B music, soul music — a lot of times you got to listen to the whole song to figure out who it is singing,” Brown, 37, tells to PEOPLE during a recent interview. “A lot of people don’t have their own voice. They’re just making music.“Raised on the sounds ofAretha Franklinand Sam Cooke, Brown says he craves the days when one knew exactly who was singing to them.“When the industry was working, they chose a lot of different voices with lots of different textures,” explains Brown. “You knew exactly who they were as soon as you heard the vocal!” He laughs. “Anita Baker was never mistaken forGladys Knight. When you heard aDolly Partonsong and you turned on aRebasong, you knew there was two different deliveries. They sound nothing alike, but they were both uniquely great. This industry that we have nowadays, everybody just wants to put out music. Nobody sounds different. Everybody’s doing the same songs.“Granted, Brown has certainly made a career out of keeping people guessing when it came to his own sound, as he has found success with everything from “The Git Up” to “Just the Way” alongside country music hitmakers Parmalee. Heck, Brown evenreunited with rapper and longtime friendT.I.in November on “Trap Still Bumpin.'“Blanco Brown.J. KaviarBut it is the voice that one hears on his new song “I’ll Never” that just might give listeners the best look at exactly who Brown is at his sonic core.“It’s amazing to me that people don’t know that I canreallysing,” stresses the soulful powerhouse of a singer. “People like Boyz II Men and [songwriter] Diane Warren have all talked about how my vocals cut through with feeling and stuff, but it hasn’t been narrated in the country space.“He pauses.“People hadn’t really got a chance to experience that side of me because they were stuck on ‘The Git Up,'” Brown says of the song that ended up going 11x platinum across three countries.But now with “I’ll Never,” Brown says he is proud to bring with him a song that speaks of everlasting love, but stresses that the song can mean a multitude of things to a multitude of people.“To me, it’s about finding somebody that you love or being with somebody that you love and loving them the way they need to be loved,” says Brown of the song he wrote while in Los Angeles alongside songwriters Keith Justice and Allen Arthur. “Sometimes, that can even mean looking in the mirror to love yourself just a little bit more.“RELATED GALLERY:Go Behind-the-Scenes at Blanco Brown’s Grand Ole Opry Debut: ‘It Felt Unreal’Brown has in fact been surrounded with a slew of love since hismotorcycle accident back in 2020, when the singer/songwriterbroke nearly “all of his bones"in a head-on collision. So, it would be natural for one to think that he was thinking of some of those special people during the writing of “I’ll Never.“Or maybe not.“When I sing the song, I wasn’t thinking of anybody in particular,” he says. “I was just thinking oflifeand what could I do to bring love and passion back to this world, one song at a time?“Blanco Brown.J. KaviarAnd in following his arrow toward a genre-less brand of music, Brown says that “I’ll Never” succeeds in every way possible.“It’s exactly what I want my music to stand for,” he explains. “Everythinghasto have a purpose. I don’t want to make music that has no meaning. It’s just about being in a space of creating music for people that need to hear it.“And sometimes, that person is himself.“Sometimes, I listen to my own records and realize that there are songs on there that are gettingmethrough to the next phase of my life,” says Brown. If I can create songs that manifest inmylife and that get me throughmytestimony, then it’s a blessing to create music that God laid onmyheart.“It’s certainly important to him to do just this, as he continues his physical and mental recovery from his 2020 accident.“I’m coming along,” he stresses. “I still go through pain, but I don’t complain about it a lot. I just want to take one day at a time. As long as I can be a blessing to somebody else, that’s the message that I want to be remembered for.”
Blanco Brownhas a gripe with the current state of music. And when you are a man who got a second chance at life not too long ago, you aren’t afraid to say those gripes out loud for all the world to hear.
So here goes.
“When you listen to country music, R&B music, soul music — a lot of times you got to listen to the whole song to figure out who it is singing,” Brown, 37, tells to PEOPLE during a recent interview. “A lot of people don’t have their own voice. They’re just making music.”
Raised on the sounds ofAretha Franklinand Sam Cooke, Brown says he craves the days when one knew exactly who was singing to them.
“When the industry was working, they chose a lot of different voices with lots of different textures,” explains Brown. “You knew exactly who they were as soon as you heard the vocal!” He laughs. “Anita Baker was never mistaken forGladys Knight. When you heard aDolly Partonsong and you turned on aRebasong, you knew there was two different deliveries. They sound nothing alike, but they were both uniquely great. This industry that we have nowadays, everybody just wants to put out music. Nobody sounds different. Everybody’s doing the same songs.”
Granted, Brown has certainly made a career out of keeping people guessing when it came to his own sound, as he has found success with everything from “The Git Up” to “Just the Way” alongside country music hitmakers Parmalee. Heck, Brown evenreunited with rapper and longtime friendT.I.in November on “Trap Still Bumpin.'”
Blanco Brown.J. Kaviar
But it is the voice that one hears on his new song “I’ll Never” that just might give listeners the best look at exactly who Brown is at his sonic core.
“It’s amazing to me that people don’t know that I canreallysing,” stresses the soulful powerhouse of a singer. “People like Boyz II Men and [songwriter] Diane Warren have all talked about how my vocals cut through with feeling and stuff, but it hasn’t been narrated in the country space.”
He pauses.
“People hadn’t really got a chance to experience that side of me because they were stuck on ‘The Git Up,'” Brown says of the song that ended up going 11x platinum across three countries.
But now with “I’ll Never,” Brown says he is proud to bring with him a song that speaks of everlasting love, but stresses that the song can mean a multitude of things to a multitude of people.
“To me, it’s about finding somebody that you love or being with somebody that you love and loving them the way they need to be loved,” says Brown of the song he wrote while in Los Angeles alongside songwriters Keith Justice and Allen Arthur. “Sometimes, that can even mean looking in the mirror to love yourself just a little bit more.”
RELATED GALLERY:Go Behind-the-Scenes at Blanco Brown’s Grand Ole Opry Debut: ‘It Felt Unreal’
Brown has in fact been surrounded with a slew of love since hismotorcycle accident back in 2020, when the singer/songwriterbroke nearly “all of his bones"in a head-on collision. So, it would be natural for one to think that he was thinking of some of those special people during the writing of “I’ll Never.”
Or maybe not.
“When I sing the song, I wasn’t thinking of anybody in particular,” he says. “I was just thinking oflifeand what could I do to bring love and passion back to this world, one song at a time?”
And in following his arrow toward a genre-less brand of music, Brown says that “I’ll Never” succeeds in every way possible.
“It’s exactly what I want my music to stand for,” he explains. “Everythinghasto have a purpose. I don’t want to make music that has no meaning. It’s just about being in a space of creating music for people that need to hear it.”
And sometimes, that person is himself.
“Sometimes, I listen to my own records and realize that there are songs on there that are gettingmethrough to the next phase of my life,” says Brown. If I can create songs that manifest inmylife and that get me throughmytestimony, then it’s a blessing to create music that God laid onmyheart.”
It’s certainly important to him to do just this, as he continues his physical and mental recovery from his 2020 accident.
“I’m coming along,” he stresses. “I still go through pain, but I don’t complain about it a lot. I just want to take one day at a time. As long as I can be a blessing to somebody else, that’s the message that I want to be remembered for.”
source: people.com
