Brothers Osborne

Some artists use self-titled albums as an opportunity to reintroduce themselves, but for Brothers Osborne it’s something closer to a long-awaited full reveal. The sibling duo’s fourth studio album and the follow-up to 2020’s *Skeletons*, *Brothers Osborne* is the fullest artistic and personal statement from TJ and John Osborne yet, a feat partially owed to TJ’s coming out as gay in early 2021. Accordingly, the duo sounds loose and revitalized, with producer Mike Elizondo capturing an electric moment in time and subtly expanding upon the genre-defying sound the pair has developed over the years. Highlights include the playful, groovy kiss-off “Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That,” a Jaren Johnston co-write with serious disco swagger, and the sexy, soulful “Goodbye’s Kickin’ In,” which makes the most of TJ’s sultry baritone. Closer “Rollercoaster (Forever and a Day)” is a love song for the ages, using gender-neutral pronouns so anyone can relate to the sweet and realistic track. “Writing songs was a lot more enjoyable \[on this record\],” TJ tells Apple Music. “Instead of having to steer around or be fearful of how something was going be portrayed, I think now it was like, ‘Okay, we\'ve been pretty open about who we are,’ and there was a lot less stifling creative barriers there. I think it’s ultimately why we wanted to self-title the album. We don\'t have anything to hide anymore, and it\'s such an incredibly freeing experience.” Below, the brothers share insight into several key tracks. **“Goodbye’s Kickin’ In”** TJ: “As you\'re about to maybe call it quits, there\'s that thing where you\'re like, ‘Wait, no, I don\'t want to do this.’ And whether it turns into making love or when that moment is so pure in adrenaline, just a rush where you get this close to the edge and you rescue one another, it\'s exciting. And so that was what inspired that song there. And I love how you can really hear a totally different influence, I think, than you\'ve heard on any of our other songs on that one. There\'s an almost R&B soulfulness to it that I really love.” **“Love You Too”** TJ: “There\'s times where people will say something and I\'m like, ‘You are getting under my skin.’ But I think that really, when you can step out of it and get above it, it really is the most powerful place to be and to not be controlled. A lot of times when people are saying something hateful, what they really want is your attention, and they\'re just trying to scream as much as they can.” **“We Ain’t Good at Breaking Up”** TJ: “I would say that \[title\] as a joke. People would ask if \[my boyfriend and I\] were still together and I would say, ‘Yeah, we\'re not very good at breaking up,’ as a silly thing to say. And then I said it to Jesse Frasure once and he was like, ‘Well, we got to write that.’ It doesn\'t get into super specifics, necessarily, of my sexuality or anything—all along we\'ve always had gender-neutral songs intentionally and we\'ve still stuck with that theme, which I personally like. I think it\'s just something that we don\'t get recognized a lot for, but do at times, and I love living in that space.” **“Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That”** John: “It’s a disco track, disco strings. I mean, we threw every instrument in the entire studio on that song, too. We wrote that song with Jaren Johnston and Lee Miller at his cabin. He rented a cabin for a couple of days and we just drank more alcohol than we could possibly drink and wrote. And that was, I think, the first one that we wrote. And we were just cutting up laughing. And Jaren, of course, in the room he just likes to get weird, so that\'s where that song was born from.” **“Rollercoaster (Forever and a Day)”** TJ: “That was another really interesting thing for me \[about writing this record\]. While I was in, and still am in, a very loving relationship, before I would\'ve pretended that it didn\'t exist and I would live in someone else\'s life, I guess. And so \[this song\] was heavily inspired by my current relationship.” John: “\[Relationships\] are amazing and they\'re all really hard. That\'s what the song\'s about. I mean, where are the songs for people who don\'t get along? If you listen to a love song, it\'s like, ‘I love you and it\'s great and slide on over in my truck ’cause life is perfect.’ It\'s like, ‘No, it\'s not.’ And then the truck\'s broken down and you\'re pissed at each other, and then two days later, you\'re loving on each other again. That\'s what love is. Love is getting through the hard times.”