ACM Awards 2021: Chris Young and Kane Brown’s Performance Has Fans Feeling Famous

Chris Young and Kane Brown performed their latest duet on television together for the first time on Sunday night when they took their collaboration “Famous Friends” to the ACM Awards, and fans couldn’t get enough of the duo’s time on stage. Young and Brown performed on the Ryman Auditorium stage with television sets behind them and their backing musicians wearing face mask, and ahead of the song, Young noted that it was “great to be back at the ACM Awards” and to play for a live audience.

Young and Brown first released “Famous Friends” in November and followed with the music video in March. Written by Young, Cary Barlowe and Corey Crowder, “Famous Friends” is all about celebrating people who most of the world might not know but who mean a whole lot to those in their hometowns, and fans on Twitter were loving Young and Brown’s debut television performance.

“I dig this [Young] and [Brown] collab, ‘Famous Friends.’ It just makes me happy! And they sound GREAT,” one fan wrote. “The more I hear this song the more I like it,” another commented.

“We were just kind of trying to find a different angle from the back home vibe and who I grew up with,” Young told PopCulture.com of writing the song. “And it’s like, it’d be really cool if you’re like, ‘I got famous friends that you might never heard of, but when I go back home, they’re famous in this hometown.’ I love that angle on that idea of a song. So the fact that we got it written, thought it was cool, sent it and then like, ‘Hey Kane, do you want to be on this?’ And he thought it was cool. And it all came together as well as it did, I’m just, I’m thrilled people are going to get to hear it.”

The song features the names of Young’s actual friends, some of whom were also featured in the music video. “Famous Friends” is expected to appear on Young’s upcoming album, which has not yet been announced.