Kane Brown Surprised with Gold Record Certification for ‘What Ifs’
The look on Brown's face when the RIAA Gold plaque came out...priceless.
Kane Brown’s face was pure gold after getting surprised by his team for earning the RIAA certification for his current hit, “What Ifs.”
While Brown thought he was stopping by his record label to check out a few tracks for the next album, he moseyed along with the plan as he followed his representatives upstairs for a small event. Just as the scheme climaxed to a fake congratulations toward WME’s Rob Beckham, RIAA presented a plaque to the country singer instead to his great amazement.
“I thought it was cool, because I was downstairs at Sony listening to music before – songs that we just finished that haven’t been mixed yet going on the new album. They said that that we had to come up here and talk to Rob Beckham because he’s having a ceremony or something. So I come up, just expecting to say hey. I didn’t even get a beer when they offered it to me, because I was expecting to drive home right then. Randy Goodman, the CEO of Sony, was doing the meeting, which I thought was odd. So whenever they presented me the gold record, I was shocked. It was just an overwhelming feeling,” Brown told Sounds Like Nashville exclusively about the surprise award.
Pictured L-R: WME’s Braeden Rountree, EFG Management’s Martha Earls, Kane Brown, RIAA Director of Communication and Gold & Platinum Awards Program Liz Kennedy and Sony Music Nashville Chairman & CEO Randy Goodman; Photo credit: Alan Poizner
Making the moment even more special for Brown to receive his second-ever Gold certified record for “What Ifs,” he reflected on how far he and duet vocalist Lauren Alaina have come from their itty-bitty Georgia town. Brown noted that he knew the song would be huge, but he never came to terms with the idea that the single could reach such great heights.
“I love it specifically because it’s me and Lauren [Alaina], and we’re both from the same hometown,” he explained. “It just got voted for the fourth most boring city in Georgia. It’s cool to have that. I think the surprise really hit me more this year, because last year, I was kinda thrown off. I knew something was going to happen, I didn’t know what, and it was during a show. With this, I had everybody behind me in Nashville up here, the writers were here, so it was cool.”
The afternoon was celebrated among members from RIAA, WME and Sony, as well as some of Brown’s close friends and family. Throughout it all though, Brown couldn’t wipe the astounded grin off his face for the accomplishment he was unknowingly taking home that night.
“What Ifs” can be heard playing on country radio stations now.
