Country Singer Brett Kissel Talks Collaborating With 98 Degrees on ‘Ain’t The Same’ [Exclusive]
Brett Kissel is a romantic at heart. The country singer, who refers to his wife as “so kind, so beautiful,” really does feel life ain’t the same when she’s not around. So was born his recent collaboration with 98 Degrees. The JUNO Award and Canadian Country Music Association winner sat down with Showbiz Cheat Sheet to discuss the single, “Ain’t The Same,” and what it was like working with the pop and R&B vocal group.
How Brett Kissel came to collaborate with 98 Degrees on ‘Ain’t The Same’
According to Kissel, “Ain’t The Same” was a quick song to write. It came easy to him and co-writers Karen Kosowski and Tim Nichols.
“We really just talked about all the great things in life that are maybe even better when you’ve got the person that you love beside you, and how if you take that person away from you, it really ain’t the same,” he tells Showbiz. “And that instantly became our title. And we didn’t spend much time on the song because it fell out. Sometimes you can write days for a great song, sometimes it’ll take you all day and hours and hours. This one, I think we wrote it in two hours and went and had a few cocktails and an early lunch.”
Around the time that Kissel, Kosowski, and Nichols wrote “Ain’t The Same,” there were “rumblings in the industry that said” 98 Degrees was interested in making a country record. Kissel’s manager presented the song to the group and they loved it.
“When that country record idea kind of fell to the wayside, Nick Lachey and Jeff Timmons reached back out to my manager and said, ‘We still love the song, but do you think Brett would actually like to do it with us?'” explains Kissel.
The ‘Ain’t The Same’ music video
The “Ain’t The Same” music video is slated to come out in May.
“It wasn’t until the music video that we really got a chance to hang out in LA,” says Kissel. “And these guys are, obviously extremely famous — there were paparazzi, cameras, and fans waiting outside the studio to see and catch a glimpse of Nick Lachey and the band. But they’re the nicest guys.”
The country singer calls 98 Degrees “the four nicest guys I’ve maybe ever met in this business.”
“I’m just grateful they said yes to doing this collab and that they added their tender, sweet, silky, beautiful vocals to make this song even better,” he says.
As for what the video will entail, Kissel says it’ll show 98 Degrees showing him around Los Angeles, California.
“And all while I’m seeing the great sights of LA, The Hollywood Sign and going on a double decker bus, all that great stuff, I’m FaceTiming my beautiful wife and my kids and saying like, ‘It’s really great that I’m here, but it really ain’t the same without them,'” he says. “And then we do a concert at the end of the video where we’ve got a sold out show at one of the great theaters in LA and my wife and kids end up surprising me at the show. So catching that footage is really special.”
Brett Kissel on Nick Lachey’s ‘Love is Blind’ and ‘The Ultimatum’
“Nick Lachey is probably counting his money as he sees that it’s the number one show on Netflix in America,” Kissel says of his collaborator’s Netflix projects. “I’m really proud of his success and they really are very unique shows.”
At the time of our interview, Kissel had watched both seasons of “Love is Blind” and was making his way through “The Ultimatum” with his wife of 10 years.
The country singer is “happily married.” But was there ever a time he would have gone on a show like “Love is Blind” or “The Ultimatum”?
“Nope, not a chance, no,” he says without hesitation. “… I’m not handsome enough and number two — I’m just a country boy who likes to drive tractors and go fish and hunt deer and chase cows. I’m not an LA type.”
