A breakup with the makings of a country song? Florida Georgia Line bandmates Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley have achieved major success in country music, but behind the scenes, it wasn’t always peachy between them.
Hubbard and Kelley founded their duo in 2010 and broke records with their debut single, “Cruise” in 2012. After releasing four studio albums from 2012 to 2019, they made headlines in 2020 when Tyler and his wife, Hayley Hubbard, unfollowed his bandmate. Fans were quick to assume that political differences put a wedge between them as Tyler and Hayley were vocal supporters of Kamala Harris and Brian, who is married to Brittney Kelley, slammed Joe Biden supporters.
The two men addressed the social media drama in a joint interview on SiriusXM’s Exit 209.
“I unfollowed BK for a few days while we were through this political, you know, in the middle of this election and everything going on,” Tyler told Storme Warren. “And, and I even called him and told him, I said, ‘Hey buddy, I love you. And I love you a lot more in real life than on your stories right now. So I’m just going to, so that’s why I’m unfollowing you. Nothing personal. I still love you. You’re still my brother.’ I just didn’t want to see it every time I opened Instagram. And so it wasn’t a big deal.”
Tyler added that the twosome had butt heads before.
“We’ve went to therapy, we’ve sat with each other and wanting to kill each other at times,” he said. “But by the end of it, we were hugging it out. You know what I mean? Because we’re brothers and that’s what brothers do.”
While they went on to release their fifth studio album, Life Rolls On, in 2021, the musicians hinted at a hiatus in 2022, launching solo careers.
“We’re sort of using these last 12 shows,” Tyler told People in February. “As a time to celebrate FGL, celebrate the fans, celebrate each other, and then support each other on the next chapter of our musical and creative journey, which is gonna be individually for a while. So we’re excited.”
Brian clarified at the time that they are “not going their separate ways” but rather taking a “break.” However, months later, he hinted that there were no plans for the twosome to work together after wrapping their summer 2022 tour.
“We’ve got, I think at this point, 10 or 11 more shows this year. We’re taking a break after that, so if you want to see us, this is the year to do it,” Brian said during a May 2022 radio interview. “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.”
Scroll through for a timeline of their ups and downs:
