After making a mark on Country music with his dynamic debut album Cross Country, PLATINUM artist, singer, producer, and songwriter BRELAND is poised to continue his artistic evolution – and embracing a personal one. With his forthcoming EP, Project 2024, the hitmaker reaches a creative tipping point, building for the future while looking home for inspiration. Pre-save/pre-add the EP here.
Slated to release on October 18 via Bad Realm Records/Atlantic Records, the six track Project 2024 finds a game changer known for feel-good fusions of Country, Hip-Hop, Gospel and more bringing purpose to his passion. In an age defined by agendas, BRELAND’s is not political – but does recognize a time of collective reflection, similar to the Civil Rights struggle which became front and center to American history in Selma, Alabama, where BRELAND’s family is from.
Returning to the city of his great grandmother, great-great grandmother and more, the rising star expected to find a place transformed by perseverance – to recharge his spirit after seeing the better world their struggle brought. But instead, he found a community all but forgotten.
The experience crystalized a powerful truth in BRELAND’s mind: That his success points back to this place, to the difficult choices made by people filled with hope, who never saw the impact of what they did. Like them, he is just a link in the chain, and what he does today will set the stage for those who come next.
With Project 2024 the agenda is simple. To uplift and inspire, and to do so on behalf of all those who labor for a better future. To finally remember Selma – not as a setting for selfies but as a symbol of how real the struggle still is. And for BRELAND, to do his part to keep the movement going.
“Leaving Selma, I came home with a new sense of purpose…I was fired up,” BRELAND explains. “On this new project I wanted to honor and acknowledge those ancestors and the name that they carry because it is bigger than me. It has always been. There are so many people that fought for me to do this, and a lot of those stories have been erased. I have the opportunity to share some of those stories of the people that are still here.”
Continuing to fuse the traditionally separate-but-equal elements of Country, Hip-Hop, Soul, and beyond, BRELAND peppers Project 2024 with sonic experimentation – but also themes of hard work, personal responsibility, community pride and undying hope, bringing the people of Selma out of the shadows.
Wrapped in riveting energy, clever lyrical complexity and driving rhythm – plus BRELAND’s 100-percent unique vocal delivery – lead single “Icing” has already paved a path for what’s to come, earning acclaim from COMPLEX as an “upbeat Country music banger.” An addictive introduction to Project 2024, the track is just the first taste of an EP with as much substance as it has style.
“Country music is a storytelling genre,” says BRELAND. “I am at a point in my career and in my own understanding of my artistry where I want to be able to give people songs they can listen to and enjoy and songs that can be a part of the soundtracks of people’s lives. I also want to make sure there’s enough meat on the bones that people can get something else out of it.”
Throughout Project 2024, BRELAND hits that elusive target. Tracks like “What You’ve Been Through” match inspiration with dance-floor energy. “Motion” taps a melancholy dreamscape of love on its last legs, and “Run” captures the euphoric power of committing to do right. The EP-leading “Grandmaman’em” grounds its family dedication in forever-grateful beats, with BRELAND standing on the shoulders of giants, and with “Same Work (feat. The War And Treaty)," he pulls his thread of purpose and hope through all walks of life.
Continuing to show respect for many genres of music, BRELAND’s Project 2024 is more than another collision of sounds and soul. It’s a snapshot of artistic growth, and inflection point in this one-of-a-kind artist’s history. It’s the creative agenda for BRELAND’s next chapter.
