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Behind the Song: Florida Georgia Line's 'Cruise'

March 25, 2014 / 9:36 AM EDT / CBS Detroit

By Annie Reuter

"Baby you a song, you make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise," sing Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley of country duo Florida Georgia Line in the opening moments of their monster smash hit "Cruise." In fact, it was these very words that kicked off the writing of the song, which earned them their first No. 1, broke countless records , and became 2013's most played song at country radio.

Now "Cruise" has been nominated an Academy of Country Music Award for Single of the Year. In addition, the remixed version of the song featuring rapper Nelly has also earned a second nomination for Vocal Event of the Year. Florida Georgia Line has also been nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year, and their debut album Here's to the Good Times is nominated for Album of the Year.

Related: See all 2014 ACM Award nominees

For our latest installment of Behind the Song , Radio.com talked with FGL's Kelley and Hubbard as well as Chase Rice , a singer and songwriter who also had a hand in turning the catchy song into an unfathomable hit.

The song began when Kelley, Chase Rice and Jesse Rice (no relation) were sitting in Jesse's living room one afternoon. They had been writing another song when Kelley started playing something very different.

"All of a sudden Brian [Kelley] pops up and strums a chord and starts humming this melody," Chase Rice told Radio.com . "That ended up being the 'Cruise' melody, and we looked at each other, all of us three, and we were like, 'What the hell is that?' He was like, 'I don't know, but we should write it.' As we got more into it, we completely dropped the other song we were writing that day, and I'm glad we did."

Kelley knew the song would be the perfect fit for Florida Georgia Line, and he looks back fondly on that very special day.

"The first line of the chorus got thrown out," he recalled to Radio.com . "We wrote it really quick, got it back in the studio, tweaked some things and added some things. Our producer Joey Moi [who's also credited as a songwriter on 'Cruise'] really challenged us to tighten it up and to try and make it the best song we could. He made an amazing track to go along with that. It doesn't sound like anything else that's on the radio."

Related: Florida Georgia Line Talk Cruising with Nelly

A life-changer for all involved, "Cruise" has a relatability to country fans that helped take it to No. 1.

"I think it really resonates with country fans," Hubbard said. "I keep hearing people say, 'Every time we hear it, it really does make me want to roll my windows down and cruise.' Even if you're not totally into country music, it's just a feel-good song that can [work] for anybody. Everybody seems to be drawn to it. The hooky-ness of it, the catchiness of it, everybody calls it an earworm that they can't get out of their head. We've just been blessed to be a part of it."

While both FGL and Rice credit the song to the songwriting gods, the simplicity of the track helped it gain fans on both country radio and pop radio , thanks to the Nelly remix .

"The melody is catchy. The lyrics are easy to remember and easy to sing along to, it's not too wordy," Rice explained. "The production is great on it. We wrote the hell out of it. It's not a deep song, there's not a whole lot of meaning around it. People just want to have a good time and sing along, and that's the ultimate sing-along song."

And, he continued, "It starts with a chorus. A lot of the old rock songs started with the chorus, and they all went to No. 1. This one was the same way. We started with the chorus that day."

"It's really cool to be, from the start of that song on a couch in the house, to the studio, to singing it live and getting an award, to it being No. 1. It's the best feeling in the world and we're really humbled to be a part of such a special song," Kelley said.

Related: Read about more ACM-nominated songs

The 49th annual ACM Awards will be broadcast live from Las Vegas on Sunday, April 6 at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.

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'Cruise': The Story Behind Florida Georgia Line's Smash Hit Single

The year was 2012 when a previously-unknown duo called Florida Georgia Line , made up of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley , took over country radio waves with their feel-good, debut single, "Cruise." The song and the duo soon caught fire, and it's a flame that has yet to run out. Not only did "Cruise" reach the No. 1 spot on the Country Airplay chart, but it spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, an accomplishment that has only been surpassed by Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road."

The original song and the remix with rapper Nelly have sold 7 million copies in the US, leading to "Cruise" becoming the best-selling country digital song of all time and earning Diamond status (11x Platinum). This one song shot Florida Georgia Line into instant country fame, and it also ushered in a brand new sound to the genre and launched the country music trend which would later be dubbed "bro-country." While the song brought countless accolades to the group, the origins of the smash hit single are really quite simple.

The Birth of 'Cruise' and Bro-Country

"Cruise" was written by Kelley, Hubbard, Joey Moi, Chase Rice and Jesse Rice, and the tune was born out of a writing session with Kelley, Chase and Jesse. The three singer-songwriters were reportedly writing a different, slower song when the song's famous opening line, "Baby, you a song," suddenly came to Kelley. He then began strumming some chords and came up with a melody and "Cruise" was created.

Read More: Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley + Brittney Kelley: Inside Their Love Story

The songwriters finished the song 45 minutes after Kelley came up with the initial idea, and it went through various edits in the studio with producer Joey Moi, who came up with the tune's signature sound. Florida Georgia Line recorded the song for their 2012 EP, It'z Just What We Do, which also included "Get Your Shine On" and three other songs. "Cruise" was released to iTunes in April 2012 and then was shipped to radio in August of that year. The group included the song on their debut album, Here's To The Good Times, which also featured the "Cruise (Remix)" ft. Nelly as well as hit songs "Round Here," "Stay," and "This Is How We Roll" featuring Luke Bryan.

The "Cruise (Remix)" was released to iTunes on April 2, 2013 and then to pop radio later. Two music videos exist for the song — one with Hubbard and Kelley for the original version and one with Nelly for the remix. The original version's official music video boasts over 140 million views. FGL and Nelly collaborated again on Nelly's "Walk Away" and "Lil Bit."

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clock This article was published more than 10 years ago

‘Cruise’: Behind the making of Florida Georgia Line’s mega-hit

If you’ve toggled through the radio dial at any point over the past year, chances are it didn’t take you long to hear the words “Baby you a song, you make me wanna roll my windows down, and cruise.”

It’s the opening line to “Cruise,” the summer-love party anthem that launched Florida Georgia Line into the pop-culture consciousness. The mega-hit, which first made an impact in August 2012, has gone platinum five times over, making it the second-best-selling digital country song in history.

With five co-writers on the track (Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, along with Joey Moi, Chase Rice and Jesse Rice), we had to know who came up with that inexplicably catchy — and grammatically incorrect — four-word intro.

Turns out that was all Kelley. “Honestly, you gotta thank the songwriting gods,” he says. He has no idea where it came from. The line materialized while they were in the middle of writing a different song, and they ran with it.

Originally, the lyric was "Baby, you like a song." The track actually went through several edits when Florida Georgia Line first went into the studio with Moi, a veteran producer.

Moi, who produced the duo’s debut album, remembers the construction of “Cruise” as “one of those magical days,” where everything just fell into place. The group rewrote some lyrics and added a section after the solo. Moi, who hails from Vancouver and spent years working in the rock genre, was accustomed to building songs layer by layer in the studio. He did the same with “Cruise,” and the end result, Kelley says, was an “epic” track, with a sound quality that stood out from everything else on country radio.

So, tell us. What’s the secret to making a song stick in people’s heads forever?

Moi laughs. "I've been trying to crack that code my entire career," he says, before explaining that it really can't be explained beyond that it involves a blend of lyrics, melody and energy.

"There are some intangible things that go along with it," Moi says. "And this will sound cliche, but with Brian and Tyler's personalities . . . there's just energy created from it that's kind of contagious."