Following his eight-week No. 1 smash hit, ‘World On Fire’, powerhouse country star Nate Smith debuted his latest anthemic single today, ‘Bulletproof‘, along with an official video.
Written by Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson, and Hunter Phelps, the song battles the bulletproof memory of a past relationship. Additionally, the singer announced his Through The Smoke EP, arriving April 5. Pre-add/order/save the EP and listen to ‘Bulletproof’ here.
Nate shared about the song, “Ashley Gorley, who is one of the co-writers on ‘World On Fire’ with me, wrote ‘Bulletproof’ and had sent it to me. I immediately loved it. I thought the beginning had a Tom Petty vibe to it and then the chorus has this massive lift. It sounded like an anthem, and I knew I wanted to cut it.”
He added, “I’ve dealt with some heartache throughout my life, and I’ve also been the deliverer of heartache to some. It’s funny because we think sometimes that alcohol is gonna make you forget the person, but often times it brings it right back up. There are so many things we can try to do to get over someone we love, but really time is the only thing that can help.”
‘Bulletproof’ will be one of seven songs included on his Through The Smoke EP, due April 5th. Smith shared about the project, “I’ve been through a lot of adversity in my life, but ‘through the smoke’ came to mind one day and I thought that was the perfect way to describe making it through tragedy. It captures what it looks like on the other side of heartbreak, on the other side of tragedy, on the other side of giving everything you’ve got to go after what you want to do in life. I think this EP is a transition between all the fire and pain and everything I went through, and then overcoming. And that’s what I want people to feel. It’s layered in there.”
Smith has had an incredible start to the year, earning the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Airplay chart for eight consecutive weeks. The accomplishment ties Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night’, Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere’ and Lonestar’s ‘Amazed’ for the second-longest No. 1 chart reign since Country Airplay began in 1990. The song also hit No. 1 on the Mediabase/Country Aircheck chart for three weeks.
Last month, Smith brought a fiery performance of the smash hit to NBC’s TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, watch here. With over 170 million global streams to date, ‘World On Fire’ follows Smith’s Platinum-certified, multi-week No. 1 debut single ‘Whiskey On You’. Only 19 songs went No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart last year, two of which belong to Smith.
‘World On Fire’ is one of 26 tracks on Smith’s self-titled album released last year. The album hit #6 on Billboard’s Country albums chart and #30 overall on the Billboard Top 200. Nate Smith also includes RIAA Gold-certified hits ‘Wreckage’ and ‘Under My Skin’. Smith now has over a billion total career streams worldwide and has achieved four No.1s on SiriusXM The Highway’s Hot 30 Weekend Countdown: ‘Whiskey On You’, ‘I Found You’, ‘Better Boy’, and ‘World On Fire’.
Press raved about Nate Smith, with The Tennessean sharing that it “lends itself well to country’s radio-ready expectations, but also is so well-delivered that it explodes them, too… Smith’s vocal is a flexible instrument that is so genuinely powerful that, aided by intentional musicianship, it achieves songs that feel familiar in a heart-warming and instantly connective manner.” Billboard lauded his “formidable, rangy and raw vocal power” while Holler noted that his range bears “resemblance to country legend Vince Gill, whose vocal control could cause fainting spells three states over,” adding that “this is Smith’s superpower.”
Smith kicked off his headline WORLD ON FIRE TOUR last month, stopping in major cities across the country including Chicago, Indianapolis, and NYC. He’ll bring the tour to Las Vegas’s Stoney’s Rockin’ Country tonight and then LA’s El Rey Theatre next week. This spring and summer, he’ll join Morgan Wallen for his ONE NIGHT AT A TIME 2024 tour. He will open the highly sought-after tour in stadiums across the country, with stops in Arlington (TX), Charlotte, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, Oxford (MS), Tampa and other cities. Smith will also return to Stagecoach next year after his debut appearance at the festival this year.
Additionally, the buzzworthy star received a nomination at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards for BEST NEW ARTIST (COUNTRY). The show will air LIVE on FOX in the US on Monday, April 1 at 7pm CT, as well as broadcast live on 150+ iHeartRadio stations around the country.
Fresh off a breakout year in 2023, Smith gears up to make an even bigger splash in 2024 with a stacked schedule of tour dates and new music in the works.