Tyler Hubbard & Brian Kelley tell their sides of the Florida Georgia Line breakup story

Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley spill their tea for details on what led to the rift between the former Florida Georgia Line bandmates. Hubbard and Kelley each appeared in separate episodes Bussin' With the Boys podcast, each giving their own version of the events that transpired that led to the duo's breakup.

Hubbard and Kelley played their last concert together as FGL in September 2022 at the Minnesota State Fair.

Hubbard appeared on the podcast earlier this week, stating that it was Kelley who initiated the split in order to pursue a solo career.

“For me, it was really unexpected. But [Brian Kelley] he came up to me and said, “Man, I really feel like I want to do a solo thing. And I say “Really?” We were just coming out of our first deal. We were in a sweet spot that we had worked 10 years to get to,” Hubbard said. “I'm like, 'Why don't we put this thing out for another five years, 10 more years, and then we can do the solo thing or whatever.'

“But again, I wanted to support him. He was adamant, like, “Nah, now's my time.” I really need to do this for myself.' And I say, “Well, hey, whatever you need to do, bro. Like, what do you want from me?' He says, “I just want support.” So I'm like, okay you got it… you know maybe this will bring us back together and we can do a reunion tour,” Hubbard continued. “It definitely started the whole thing over… when I say it caught me off guard, it wasn't that we'd never mentioned it before, I just didn't think it would happen at the time.”

Hubbard thought he would just be a songwriter, but realized he would miss being an artist. He also said that after hearing Kelley wanted to go solo, “There was definitely a period of time where I was confused, like, 'Why?' And I actually told him, we had good conversations about it… it felt like a divorce… BK had this thing was he still wanted to do Florida Georgia Line, but he wanted to do the solo thing too, and I had to tell him… I can't do both,” Hubbard said. “I said, 'I'll give you the choice, but it's either Florida Georgia Line or a solo career. I don't have the ability to do two careers, and it will also become very sticky. When we write songs, who are we writing for? When we got two show offers, an FGL date and a solo date, what do we get? I don't even see logistically how that would work, much less emotionally.”

Kelley appeared on the podcast Thursday morning (May 9) to share his side of things, stating that they had been talking about each other's “extra outlets” for releasing solo music as far back as 2016.

“I've expressed that I obviously want to keep doing FGL, but for me, when I don't have time, when the songwriters, the creatives are alone, you find yourself even more. Over the years… there will be songs that I write… that don't fit the FGL brand, and that's why it's been important for me to continue to honor my craft, my songwriting, and that's how I've expressed it for a long time Kelley said. “It wasn't a surprise, because the indicator was that once the deal was done… I had an idea that once the deal was done, Tyler would get a solo deal with the same label, I would do a record deal and renegotiate a new record deal.”

Kelley said he came up with the idea of ​​holding long, three-hour concerts, with no openers, that would include Florida Georgia Line songs as well as space for each of them to perform solo music.

“I wanted to do it all,” Kelley said. “It was not out of bounds. You're looking at Lady A — Hillary [Scott] he makes some solo records in the Christian area. Charles Kelley has been doing some solo stuff, doing some shows and I like the way it works. I think it's pretty special that you can honor yourself and honor what you've built… that's the mindset I had. It wasn't just that I needed to have a solo career — I would put it as “I want a solo outlet, as a creative, as a songwriter.” I wanted to reframe that part of the story. Getting sticky about what things go? I think it's easy to understand. It's not emotional for me when we talk about business and creativity.”

Kelley said they agreed to wait to release solo music until their record deal expired and release their fifth FGL album. He noted, however, that he received a call in December 2020 informing him that Hubbard was going to release a solo song with Tim McGraw. In January 2021, Hubbard and McGraw released “Undivided”.

Kelley said he was “surprised… shocked, definitely, like, 'I thought we had an agreement on what the plan was.'” Back to my main thing, it's protecting FGL. I didn't think it was a good look, if I had done it or if he had done it. FGL was my first priority… a lot of people think I just left and wanted to do solo stuff, because that's what it says.”

Kelley also noted that they also went to therapy sessions to discuss their plans for managing solo creative ventures.

Hubbard released his debut EP, I dance in the countryin August 2022, followed by his full-length, self-titled solo album in January 2023. Hubbard has since released a No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with “5 Foot 9” and recently released his new album Strong.

Kelley's debut solo EP, BK's Wave Pack, released in April 2021. Followed with the full album Sunshine State of Mind in June 2021.

Kelley said that after his album was released in June 2021, then, he said on the podcast, “it became known to me that we were kind of done,” clarifying that he heard directly from Hubbard.

“From no music for the foreseeable future, now we're not even going to tour… I'm here to tell the truth, I'm not here to try to burn anything, whatever, I'm just here to stand up for myself and my family, and like I said, the fans,” said Kelley, whose new album, Tennessee Truearrives Friday (May 10).