Meet the artists
Meet Lauren AlainaFull name: Lauren Alaina SuddethAge: 23Hometown: Rossville, Georgia / ChattanoogaLast movie watched: “Shallow Hal”Best Nashville hangout: Red DoorFavorite song: “I Will Always Love You,” Dolly PartonDream duet: Shawn MendezMeet Kane BrownFull name: Kane Allen BrownAge: 24Hometown: Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia / ChattanoogaLast movie watched: “12 Strong”Best Nashville hangout: Top GolfFavorite song: “You Make It Easy,” Jason AldeanDream duet: Randy Travis or Elvis Presley
Kane Brown was 13 years old when he started seventh grade as the new kid at Lakeview Middle School in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was a jock who wanted to play football. Instead, he was forced into chorus class where he quietly plotted how to sneak out and join the ballgame.
Lauren Alaina, 12, sat next to him. Brown was dating her friend Jerrica, and after the bubbly Alaina heard him hum in class, she decided to force him out of his shell.
"He told me he didn't sing," Alaina recalled. "I think he said he only sang in the shower."
More than a decade later, the reunited childhood friends have soared to the top of country radio airplay charts with "What Ifs," an uptempo duet about what could happen if they gave love a chance.
"What Ifs" is from Brown's self-titled debut album and is certified double platinum. Between them, the friends are nominated for three Academy of Country Music Awards (airing April 15 on CBS). Alaina is up for New Female Vocalist of the Year, Brown is nominated for New Male Vocalist of the Year and "What Ifs" is nominated for Vocal Event of the Year.
The pair celebrated the success of "What Ifs" in February with a party at BMI in Nashville. Alaina, 23, is considered a feature on the song and stood in the background as Brown, 24, was lauded for his accomplishments. But in a comfortable back room after the party, Brown said Alaina is to credit for much of his success. In addition to elevating the hit with her distinct, wide-ranging vocals and creative ad libs, many years before she convinced him to get over his fear and sing in chorus class.
Lakeview Middle School offered chorus only one year before the program was cut due to lack of funding. Lamar Gillespie was the teacher. He remembers Brown as "quiet" and Alaina as "Ms. Personality."
"She sang all the time," Gillespie said of Alaina. "She was just like she is now. She made Kane sing for me. I could tell that he had the love and passion for what he sang. You could just see it and hear it in his voice. I felt like both of them would do well."
It took Alaina all year to convince Brown to sing for their class. She grinned, pausing to recall the song.
"I really feel like it was a song from 'High School Musical.' Everyone freaked out," she said, looking at Brown, who seemed pensive. "You don't remember? I bet they do."
"I did know those songs," Brown offered. "Oh, you're right!"
Did you know?
Unable to perform since a near-fatal stroke in 2013, country superstar Randy Travis has instead turned his musical talents to a new digital campaign called Diggin’ Up Songs. The new music spotlight, found on Spotify, Twitter, Facebook and RandyTravis.com, highlights music curated by Travis and offered as a recommendation by the Country Music Hall of Fame member. Lauren Alaina’s “Doin’ Fine” and Kane Brown’s “Heaven” made his first list of favorites. The first round also spotlights “The Long Way” by Brett Eldredge, “You Broke Up With Me” by Walker Hayes and “One Number Away” by Luke Combs. New songs will be added every two weeks.
"I know I'm right," Alaina shot back.
In the fall, they went to separate schools. Over the next few years, their lives took different turns. Alaina went to class with her peers, played sports and lived at home with her parents. Brown attended five high schools in five years and often struggled to find a stable place to live. He saw his friends fall prey to drugs and violence during the time Alaina was auditioning for "American Idol," a show he used to watch with his mother.
Brown was a junior in high school when he heard Alaina had made the cut.
"I was like, 'Ma, this girl. I haven't talked to her since seventh grade, but she's going to kill this thing because when I was in middle school, her voice was incredible,'" Brown said. "So my mom started watching, and she did what she did."
Alaina, then 16, finished second (to Scotty McCreery) on Season 10 of "American Idol" in 2011.
The next time the friends met, they bumped into each other in the mall near their hometown. Brown said Alaina came up to him in the food court and took his food.
"That sounds like me," Alaina said.
Amid her country music journey, Alaina watched as Brown's self-shot videos of himself singing cover songs started to gain traction on social media. Alaina had released her debut album, "Wildflower," in the months following "American Idol" but was struggling to attract attention on country radio. She reached out on social media to congratulate her childhood friend on his growing popularity.
It was 2012, and Alaina said she "was just trying to be supportive."
"He was just killing it, and I kept seeing the views go up and up and up and up," she said. "The next thing I know, he's Kane Brown." She glanced at him and added: "He's always been Kane Brown."
Alaina was shocked a couple of years later when she spotted Brown at a music industry barbecue. He wasn't signed to a record label, and she didn't know he was in Nashville. They exchanged telephone numbers, had lunch together for the first time in years and talked about songwriting.
Over the next few months, Brown signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville. And Alaina started work on her new album, "Road Less Traveled." Alaina was driving to the gym when she randomly got a text from Brown. He had just finished writing a song with Jordan Schmidt and Matthew McGinn, and they wanted a female voice on the song's demo.
She dropped by, listened to "What Ifs" once and recorded her part.
"I didn't tell them it was her," Brown said. "I said, 'I have a friend who can sing her butt off.' Then she walked in, and they were like, 'Whoa.'"
When it came time to record "What Ifs" for his album, Alaina's schedule never lined up with Brown's planned studio time. Brown's team sent the audio file to Alaina, and she recorded her vocals for "What Ifs" in the fall of 2016 in California while she was recording vocals for a Christmas song.
It was another year before "What Ifs" was released to country radio. Brown was bored with it by then, and when Sony Music Nashville suggested releasing it as a single, he argued with them.
"Luckily, I listened to them," Brown said. "It was my first No. 1."
Alaina's "Road Less Traveled" became her first No. 1 song in early 2017.
The pair recorded the video for "What Ifs" in the spring of 2017 at a desolate, seaside location in California. Brown was nominated for New Male Vocalist of the Year, and Alaina was nominated for New Female Vocalist of the Year through the Academy of Country Music. Alaina spent the day weaving through sticks and poison ivy to meet Brown on the rocky shoreline and get the shots.
The video for "What Ifs" has been viewed more than 103 million times. The morning after they shot it, they found out together they lost their nominations.
"The night before, I said, 'I don't care what happens to me tomorrow, but Lauren deserves to win that," Brown recalled.
"That was sweet," Alaina said. "I cried over breakfast, so that was really good."
"I mean it, genuinely," he said looking across the table at Alaina. "You should have won."
While the friends didn't take home any trophies at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards in 2017, their future is bright at the upcoming awards show on April 15. "What Ifs" is the top streamed country song of 2018, and Brown's "Kane Brown" remains at No. 1 on Billboard's country albums chart. Brown made Billboard chart history in October when he simultaneously topped all five Billboard country music charts, earning a certificate for the feat last week from Guinness World Records. And "What Ifs'" No. 1 status made Alaina the only female country singer to have two No. 1 songs in 2017.
"She has one of the best voices in Nashville, and she got me here," Brown said. "I followed her path, just a different way."
Cindy Watts writes for The Tennessean in Nashville.