Is Brian Kelley’s ‘Kiss My Boots’ a Dig at Tyler Hubbard?

Following the release of “See You Next Summer,” Brian Kelley released another farewell track on Wednesday, this time with a far more bitter tune: “Kiss My Boots.”

The song, part of his upcoming sophomore album, Tennessee Truth, has some fans musing if the new track is a dig at Tyler Hubbard, the Georgia half of former country music duo Florida George Line. “Want the world to know that you did me wrong/I don’t know how you act sweet, after how you did me,” sings Kelley. “Here’s a middle finger to you through a song.”

Notably, the video features the singer hunting in the woods for a snake, and the last scene closes in on his belt buck, which reads “Florida.”

A press release bills “Kiss My Boots” as Kelley “airing out the past and moving on to a healed future.” In a statement, Kelley said the new track was “healing to write. I feel released now.” He added, “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.”

In April 2021, Kelley released his solo debut, BK’s Wave Pack, and the country duo performed their final concert as Florida Georgia Line at the Minnesota State Fair in August 2023. FGL spent the better part of the past two years prior denying they were breaking up, while rumors of tension between the duo grew with fans pointing to differing politics and social media squabbles.

“I’d be naïve to say it had nothing to do with differences of opinion and difference of geographic location and nothing to do with social media, but the decision would have been the same, regardless,” Hubbard previously told Rolling Stone. “BK came to me and said this is what I’m doing. He initiated the solo thing and asked for my support. I told BK I want you to do what you need to do to make you happy, and I’ll figure out what I’m doing after that… But I wasn’t willing to continue making FGL records and go sign another FGL deal if we were going to do solo stuff. I didn’t have the capacity for both.”