country routes news: Florida Georgia Line “H.O.L.Y.” (Single Review)

Florida Georgia Line "H.O.L.Y." (Single Review)

Release Date: 29 April 2016

Label: Big Machine Label Group, LLC

Time: 3:16 minutes

FGL open a new chapter showing a softer side on H.O.L.Y.

The self-appointed bro-country multi award winning duo Florida Georgia Line (Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley) return but this time with something a whole lot more meaningful.

They display a fresh maturity which should reach out to, and be embraced by a wide age demographic given its universal appeal.

In terms of quality this could well be their best effort yet and certainly their most noteworthy since the mid-tempo Billboard #1 ballad "Dirt" dropped on July 8, 2014.

H.O.L.Y. (writers Nate Cyphert, William Larsen and busbee) opens with a gentle acoustic guitar and piano underscored with a soft back beat.

It finds Tyler Hubbard’s role depicting a desperately lonely, thoughtful and reflective mood. As winter sets in clinging onto threads of hope, he sings:

I couldn't find a day I didn't feel alone, I never meant to cry, started losing hope...

As the rain clouds disperse and love is found, a new biblical-like chapter is opened as Brian Kelley joins in on the chorus lines:

You're holy, holy, holy, holy, I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

Although the pair didn't write the worship-like tune they obviously became emotionally attached to the song. They show a deep respect, honour and gratitude towards their wife's who they've desired for so long to marry and to raise their future offspring.

You made the brightest days from the darkest nights

You're the river bank where I was baptized

Cleanse all the demons

That were killing my freedom

Let me lay you down, give me to ya

Get you singing babe, hallelujah

We'll be touching, we'll be touching heaven

The number with its overtly spiritual vibe is thankfully uncluttered production wise. It allows Hubbard’s vocals the space to shine and soar as he digs deep to evoke the necessary emotion and passion without crossing the line for it be considered too syrupy, thus delivering a sweet yet honest sentiment:

You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving, Cos you're the first thing I know I can believe in

Lyrically, Hubbard trades both personal experiences and metaphors on “H.O.L.Y.” like a sweet love letter to his significant other with the words:

I don't need the stars cos you shine for me, Like fire in my veins, you're my ecstasy (You're my ecstasy)

Later in the track a faint organ and steel drift over the background harmony.

As the love song gently fades and with healing hands soothing the hurt FGL are it seems Forever Grateful Lovers!

With summer on the country horizon this will be another welcome addition to what is becoming an already ballad laden Billboard chart!

The genre it seems, in this currently crazy world, feels there's a need for positivity, hope and to spread genuine love.

In fact, FGL have another song waiting in the angels’ wings called "Music Is Healing" on their forthcoming third studio album named DIG YOUR ROOTS.

Joey Moi has returned to produce the record, and Tim McGraw is slated to make an appearance on one song.

Brian Kelley & Tyler Hubbard got their start playing guitar and singing in church both separately and together (worship leaders) and return to that vibe on “H.O.L.Y.”

"God's been good to us and on our side and I think this one's going to shine big" said Kelley.

Don't be surprised to see this gently "cruise" to the top of the charts.

Review ends

Video & Background to H.O.L.Y

Strangely enough Florida Georgia Line admit when they first heard “H.O.L.Y.” they were not impressed, but its hook and the message finally stuck with Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley and they grew to like it a lot.

The ACM Vocal Duo of the Year winners were halfway through recording their Dig Your Roots album when they heard “H.O.L.Y.”

Hubbard said they listened to about half of it and decided the song didn’t suit them.

“A couple weeks later, we just were both kinda like, ‘Have you been listening to that ‘H.O.L.Y.,’ that song?'” Hubbard recalled, according to ABC Radio.

“We both kind of fell in love with it over those few weeks of living with it, you know, and realized the power. Sometimes a song doesn’t hit you right away, you know,” he explained. “Sometimes it takes a few seconds to

actually get deep enough into the song to realize the power of that song.”

To coincide with the single a music video for “H.O.L.Y.” has been released. It was shot in Australia at the Twelve Apostles, a popular tourist attraction, a series of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, 94 kilometers from Melbourne.

The apostles were formed by erosion: the harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 50 metres high.

There were actually only 9 from before until one of them tumbled down on July 4th, 2005 and they become 8 now. Hubbard joked that Kelley (with beard growth) looks like the 13th apostle in the video or should that be nine!

Watch the >> official video first published on April 28, 2016 - Vevo

The scenery is so dramatic and it felt like a spiritual place for Hubbard and Kelley.
The director TK McKamy explained in the background to video (below) that it was once a volcanic site that last erupted 25,000 years ago. Watch on Vevo

Given the nature of “H.O.L.Y.” it seems fitting that both the FGL wifes appear in the video.

CMA Awards 2015- red carpet Team FGL and wifes
Brittney Marie Cole (L) & Hayley Stommel (R) (4 Nov 2015 Getty Images)

Brian Kelley's wedding to Brittany Marie Cole (a psychology student at the University of Georgia | Instagram Page), who rocked Boho chic, took place back on Dec 16, 2013 at his home in Nashville. The couples nontraditional wedding day was a relaxed and casual country singer persona affair. Just 40 guests attended the intimate wedding and the couple got coordinating feather tattoos on their arms afterwards and they're currently on their honeymoon in French Polynesia.

A photo posted by Brittney-Marie Cole Kelley (@bcole429) on Mar 10, 2016 at 8:31pm PST

Instagram Image at Twelve Apostles Brian Kelley & Brittany Cole (Bcole recently celebrated her birthday)

A photo posted by Brian Kelley (@playbkplay) on May 1, 2016 at 10:54am PDT

Tyler Hubbard known as a hard-rocking, harder-partying country star, but as was evidence from his July 1, 2015 wedding to longtime girlfriend Hayley Stommel that he also showed off his sensitive side.

Tyler Hubbard with his lovely wife Hayley Stommel

"I was a basket-case to be honest," Hubbard told PEOPLE exclusively of first seeing his bride walk down the aisle. "I was super emotional. It was a very spiritual moment the first time I got to see her. It was beautiful."

Equally beautiful was the wedding's postcard-perfect setting in the mountains of Sun Valley, Idaho, where Stommel (then aged 28), an Idaho native, grew up skiing.

Related Article: Florida Georgia Line Says They'll Have Kids in 2-5 Years