Brett Young Gives Progress on Upcoming Sophomore Album

Brett Young's self-titled debut album, released early last year, included three No. 1 singles: "Sleep Without You," "In Case You Didn't Know" and "Like I Loved You," with the fourth (and perhaps final) single off the record, "Mercy," already in the Top 20. As Young finishes working on his upcoming sophomore project, the California native says the songs will be not just about his life, but also influenced by the experiences of others.

"I think the first album was pretty clearly a very deep insight into me and my life and I never want to stray too far from that," Young shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. "But the opportunity that I've gotten after the first album to write with some of the bigger, better writers in Nashville, made me want to really dig into what their skill sets are, and what it is that they're good at, and what's made them so good.

"And so, I found myself having to, rather than writing my life story, find ways to take maybe their idea or their concept or their story and still put my DNA on it and find a way to connect to the concept that we're writing," he continued. "There's still a lot of vulnerability and emotion in these songs but there's a cool twist on it because it's influenced heavily by some of the best writers in Nashville now so it's a lot of the same with a little bit of tweaks and differences."

Young scored a coveted spot as the opening act on Thomas Rhett's upcoming Life Changes Tour, and will also play several of his own shows, putting him in front of old and new fans.

"I think he's just on fire," said Young. "To get to open for him for forty dates this year is incredible. And the way that his tour schedule is working and the fact that he's going out with Kenny [Chesney] a lot in the summer freed me up to play a bunch of the festivals before we meet up again, so my touring schedule is really exciting, I'm getting to play a lot of the festivals I want to play and then I'm getting to play for Thomas's amazing crowds. I feel like being in the studio, and already more than halfway through the next record, it's kind of a whirlwind ... plus planning a wedding, I literally couldn't be happier or busier."

The wedding, Young reveals, will likely happen in November, although many of the details are left to his future bride, Taylor Mills.

"She's working really hard to plan the wedding and I've volunteered to stay out of the way unless she really needs my help with something, and I think we've found a good balance there," Young said. "She's basically killing it; I've never thought of wedding planning as full-time job especially for the bride and the groom, but it takes up way more time than my job. We're working on it, and we've figured out that before we nail down the location and the date, there's really not much more we can do, so we're trying to get that done here really quick. My schedule is so busy, looking like it's probably going to be November."

The hit singles, the new album, and a new wife is almost more good news than Young can handle. Almost.

"I'm on cloud nine," the reigning ACM Awards New Male Vocalist of the Year exclaimed. "I feel like I'm living my dream and I feel so fortunate and I know in a business like this it can get taken away at any time, you know, so I'm really try to enjoy it and it really is what I love to do."

Photo Credit: Instagram/brettyoungmusic