Country singer Chase Rice is out to make a name for himself after
helping to pen one of country's biggest hits in decades, the monster
crossover hit for Florida Georgia Line, "Cruise."Rice's new album, "Ignite The Night," released on Tuesday, continues to push the boundaries of country music by mixing pop and hip-hop influences.
Rice said he's not resting on the success of "Cruise" and already has a gold single for himself with "Ready Set Roll," a Top 15 country single.
"I wanted to top 'Cruise,' and will I ever do it? I don't know but it is a fun goal to try to attain," Rice said. "And 'Ready Set Roll' is on it's way to becoming my first platinum single. It's already gone gold."
But he's faced his share of criticism for the popularity of bro-country, which is dominated by male singers such as Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line.
He said he's only singing about what he knows.
"A lot of my music up until now has been geared, when you get down to the nitty gritty of it, towards guys," Rice said. "And that's cause I'm a dude. And that's all I really know to sing about. What I do and what I want to do with women. And that's what any guy wants to do. He wants to get her in a truck and drive her down a dirt road."
While he wants women to enjoy his music, he said it's just as important to write songs that men love as well......
"Because you would not believe some of the passionate guys you see on the road front row with me. I'm not the kind of guy that is going to go fill an audience up with, or fill an arena wherever I am playing up with a bunch of teenage girls. I want the guys raging, the college guys drinking and partying just as much as the women are," he said.
Rice acknowledges there is some pushback by women in country music to the bro-country movement, and he likes it.
"I don't really think it's fighting back," Rice said. "I think it's just fighting for what they deserve, cause like I said, women have been a huge part of country music from day one. And they deserve a spot in country music today and that spot doesn't need to be anywhere below the men, it needs to be right there next to us. Maddie and Tae's song is the one I commented on. And I love it. I love that they are fighting for something. I love that they are speaking their mind. Because that's what I do, that's what I have done in my career."
Rice starts his tour on Sept. 5 in Denver.
