Brian Kelley's 'Kiss My Boots': A New Single or a not so Subtle Jab?

Brian Kelley released a new single, "Kiss My Boots" on Wednesday, March 6.  After listening to the lyrics, the discussion became more about who the song was intended for rather than the music itself.

Kelley was the Florida portion, while Tyler Hubbard was Georgia, of the massively successful duo, Florida Georgia Line that debuted in 2010.  Over the course of their 12 year run, the pair was the first Country act to achieve RIAA's DIAMOND certification (10 million copies sold) and held the longest reign on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

At 50 straight weeks with eight time PLATINUM, number one hit, "Meant to Be" the duo took over Country music.

In total they had 9.3 billion streams, more than 33.6 million track downloads, sold more than 4.6 million albums and scored a remarkable 16 number 1 hits.

Sounds like a storybook tale doesn't it?  Apparently not.

In 2020 the two did not see eye-to-eye on political issues and that was the beginning of the end.  After releasing their fifth album, "Life Rolls On," the pair announced they were taking a break.

In a May 2022 radio interview on Florida's 99.5 QYK, Kelley talked about the "break".

"I don't know after that what the plan is.  It's not clear to me.  At the end of the day, we're brothers, so we'll always have each other's back and support, and that's what it should be."

Except now, the lyrics Kelley is singing are certainly producing a different tune.

"Want the world to know that you did my wrong/I don't know how you act sweet, after how you did me/Here's a middle finger to you through a song."

Some would like to believe that Kelley and Hubbard could just move on, enjoy the past success, and work fiercely on creating solo careers, but reality and comments don't follow that line of logic.

Kelley recently put up a YouTube video to give the "Behind the Scenes" about the song.

Kelley has not come right out and said the "middle finger" was meant for Hubbard but within his comments and his press release, it is apparent.

His press release also expressed a hope that the song will help others heal.

"Everyone processes things differently.  I went inward. I went to work and stayed busy. I'm proud of myself for doing it that way. It was worth it. Now I have a song that helped me through a tough time. Hopefully, 'Kiss My Boots' can help a lot of people. Give them some confidence and help them get their power back."