Homesick

Album: Experiment (2018)
Charted: 35
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Kane Brown penned this pop-country ballad with Matthew McGinn, Brock Berryhill and Taylor Phillips after being on the road for a long time. Though his fans were screaming his name, all Brown could think about was being back home with his girl.

    Heaven knows it that all I wanna do
    Is be alone with your brown eyes all tangled up
    Just holdin' onto you tonight


    Brown is singing about missing his fiancée Katelyn Jae (they married after the song was written). His stints on the road seem way too long when they're apart.
  • Kane Brown had previously worked with all three of his co-writers, having co-penned "What Ifs" and "Heaven" with Matthew McGinn and "Good as You" with Taylor Phillips and Brock Berryhill.
  • McGinn, Phillips and Berryhill accompanied Brown for some concert dates in spring 2018, and they witnessed his pain at being separated from Katelyn Jae. The experience helped them write "Homesick."

    "I don't know if we would've written that song if we weren't on the road, watching him miss calls and him trying to call Katelyn and then her not being able to talk," recalled McGinn to Billboard. "It was just like, 'Oh, this is their life.'"
  • Kane Brown drops his own name in the lyrics, referencing a March 9, 2018 gig at Coyote Joe's in Charlotte, North Carolina.

    Well it says Kane Brown on a sign with a line out the door
    Sold out some little town I've never been before
    Yeah, they're screaming my name


    Jason Aldean did something similar on his 2016 single "Lights Come On."

    Here's a little something to thank y'all for showing up
    Aldean and the boys about to blow it up, haha


    Brown admitted to Billboard that his co-writers had to persuade him to keep his namecheck. "I just hate talking about myself as it is," he said. "So when I'm singing, 'It says Kane Brown on a sign with a line out the door,' it's weird to me. But, I mean, it makes sense."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Glen Burtnik

Glen BurtnikSongwriter Interviews

On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.

Dino Cazares of Fear Factory

Dino Cazares of Fear FactorySongwriter Interviews

The guitarist/songwriter explains how he came up with his signature sound, and deconstructs some classic Fear Factory songs.

George Harrison

George HarrisonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really steal George's wife? What's the George Harrison-Monty Python connection? Set the record straight with our Fact or Fiction quiz.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?