MUSIC
Who is Breland? The Daytona 500 national anthem singer
Let’s take a look at Breland, the artist who performed the national anthem at Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Country singer and rapper Breland took to the stage at Sunday’s Daytona 500 to sing the national anthem for the crowd.
The platinum singer sang the anthem a cappella as hundreds in the audience saluted the flag, and USAF Thunderbirds performed a flyover.
Who is Breland?
Hailing from Burlington Township, New Jersey, Breland, real name Daniel Gerard Breland, is a 27-year-old artist known for his 2019 hit ‘My Truck’, which blends country music influences with trap lyrics and rap rhythms.
Growing up, he cited Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder as influences. In college, he sang in an a cappella group called ‘The Phantoms’. After graduating, he moved to Atlanta, where he taught himself how to use music production tools, writing roughly 2,000 songs in the span of five years.
In 2019, when ‘My Truck’ went viral, a Sam Hunt remix helped boost the song’s popularity and solidified Breland’s place in the music business. The exposure led to him signing a record deal with Atlantic Records.
The artist has earned placements with Chris Brown and Trey Songz. Since releasing ‘My Truck,’ the artist has worked with Nashville-based producers Sam Sumser and Sean Small, who have worked with Lizzo and Usher.
“You don’t know if it’s a joke, playing off the current craze, the country-trap thing; we went into it hoping it was more sincere than just a one-song thing,” Sumser told the New York Times.
“This kid is way more than a quick meme.”
Breland has called his sound “cross country” and says that it is “the fusion of country at its core with all of the other genres of music that we know and love.”
“There are a million different ways it could sound,” he described to Extra TV.
What’s next for Breland?
In March 2022, Breland released a song with country music artist Thomas Rhett called “Praise the Lord”.
He released his debut album “Cross Country” in September, which features Keith Urban on the track “Throw It Back” along with country music band Lady A on “For What It’s Worth”.
“I want people to feel like there’s something for them on it regardless of what type of music you grew up listening to or typically listen to,” Breland explained.
“We’ve got something on here for everyone and I think being able to do that while still rooting it in country music is really powerful and lends itself to some of the songwriting that I was able to exhibit on the project.”