In the Spotlight: Brayden King

Edmonton was buzzing with excitement as Canadian Country Music Week unfolded, bringing together the best and brightest in the country music scene.

This event highlights the incredible talent of independent artists, giving them a chance to shine on a national stage. Among those taking the spotlight is a rising star who recently earned a performance slot through an enthusiastic fan vote – a true testament to his growing popularity.

Join NR92’s, Brendan Erick as he uncovers the story behind the performance and the dreams fueling Brayden King’s journey in the country music world.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

So first and foremost, I’d like to say congratulations on the performance you just locked up. Would you tell me a little bit about it?

Thank you so much. So, it’s Canadian Country Music Week this week in Edmonton. Normally every year they’ll switch between an East Coast and a West Coast. This year we’re nice and close to home, which is nice and MDM recordings is one of the top record labels here in Canada. And they host the party every year and they held a little competition to have a few independent artists perform at the show. And I was voted in by the fans, so super exciting. I’ll get to go showcase some of my tunes for all these industry folks, which is super exciting.

That kind of leads me to my next point. Of all things, a rock star like you gets to do. What’s your favorite part of being a country music artist?

The touring for sure. It’s the 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. That is the best part. The 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is terrible because normally we’re traveling long hours to get to the next gig. But that difficult travel day is always made-up for by the show because the show is always the best part.

I understand you have goals and dreams just like the rest of us, you know, say two, three, five years down the road. Where do you see yourself?

I’ve always kind of thought when people say they’ve made it, they’re making it, or they want to make it in music or something. My goal in that has always been just to have a full time living, playing music and I’m very happy to say that I’ve been doing that for two years. So, in my head, I’ve already made it. But three years from. Now I just want it to be bigger than it is right now and five years, same exact thing and I’m never really comparing myself to any other artist. I look back to 2024, I’m doing better than I was in 2023 or 2022. And next year I already know it’s going to be bigger than this year, and if I can keep outdoing myself and out working myself that that’s all I want to do. So, we’re going to keep on growing at this level and having fun doing it.

Your song, nickelback. I love it. I would just like to know a little bit about your own inspiration for the song and what it was like making it.

So Nickelback’s been my favorite band for the last, like, 15 years. I was probably listening to them at too young of an age, but that shaped me into the man I am today so just been a huge fan forever. In country music, we do a lot of co-writing, so you’ll get together with one person or as many people as you plan to get together with, and the goal is to write a song. So, I got together with a good friend of mine, Kyle Mckearney, we sat down, and we started writing this thing. We had the idea of writing a summer song and then he asked, “what would you do in the summer?” I said, “well, go to a concert.” He’s like, “what concert would you go to?” I said “Nickelback.” I think that burning it to the ground line came up first, and he’s like, let’s just throw a bunch of those in there. Because you look through Nickelback’s discography and there’s so many song titles that fit so well into a song. We sculpted the whole song around that and a love story thing. When we finished writing it, Kyle said, “this is great. Can I produce it for you?” I said, “yeah, for sure.” He said. “Okay, sweet, I’m getting Daniel Adair on drums.” Daniel Adair’s from Nickelback! They’re old friends, and he called up Daniel. And Daniel said he wanted to do it. So, it was cool recording the song. I didn’t get to be in studio with Daniel because he did it on an off day, at his own studio in Vancouver. But honestly, just to hear his drums on one of my songs, it’s got to be the coolest thing in the world. It has been my most successful song I’ve ever had, so I’m real proud of what we’ve put together and really happy people are connecting with it.

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