It's April 2012.

The Hunger Games and The Avengers are dominating Hollywood. Game of Thrones is into its second season. A hologram of Tupac Shakur just appeared alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre at Coachella. The vibes are, for lack of a better word, immaculate.

And then, on iTunes, a new song pops up called ‘Cruise’. It's by a relatively unknown country band, Florida Georgia Line, and it sounds unlike anything we've heard before in Music City. Those turbo-charged electric guitars, the innovative, Hip-Hop-inspired delivery of those verses, the killer harmonies. Oh, and that hook? It's a hook that remains as undeniably infectious today as it did back in 2012.

Of course, after the springboard of ’Cruise’, Florida Georgia Line - consisting of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley - would go on to become one of the most successful artists in modern country music, and ripped up the traditionalist rule-book in the process.

Now, following their contentious split in 2022, Florida Georgia Line are seemingly reuniting at CMA Fest 2026, with a host of ‘FGL LFG’ billboards popping up around town, and Spotify House teasing the duo as surprise guests on Friday, June 5th.

It comes after a series of interviews with THubb and BK confirming they've been bonding in recent weeks, following a disappointingly heated back-and-forth throughout 2024. They linked up on-stage for the first time in four years for a special tribute to Jason Aldean in March, laying the foundation for their CMA Fest comeback.

With Florida Georgia Line on the cusp of a momentous on-stage return - something we've been openly longing for since their hiatus - the inevitable next step will be new music. Hubbard suggested in a recent Red Carpet interview that both he and BK are still focussed on their solo material at the moment, and that live FGL shows are their priority. But it surely won't be long before they hit the studio once again, particularly after seeing the excitement that has greeted their ‘FGL LFG’ rollout.

Which begs the question - what kind of FGL will we see in 2026?

The duo completely redefined the country landscape in the 2010s, pioneering the so-called ‘Bro-Country’ wave, characterised by soaring hooks, Hip-Hop-infused backings and party-driven narratives. It paved the way for the likes of Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett and - particularly during the early stages of his career - Morgan Wallen.

In many ways, FGL's sound can still be heard in Wallen's current record-obliterating catalogue. Similarly, Hubbard and Kelley's willingness to push the boundaries between country, Hip-Hop, rock and rap helped to open the floodgates for much more genre-blurring in the 2020's from the likes of Post Malone and BigXthaPlug.

So in that sense, it should be a relatively seamless reintegration into the country music landscape for the Florida Georgia Line boys, if they decide to stick to the open-minded sound of their latter projects, Can't Say I Ain't Country and Life Rolls On.

At the same time, the ‘Bro-Country’ aesthetic that FGL are largely associated with has been much maligned in the years since for its superficial lyrics and objectification of women.

Today's country world is being propelled forwards by women, with the likes of Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson and Megan Moroney all cementing themselves in the upper echelon of the genre. It's a refreshing time to be a country fan, where leading women in country are finally being given the airplay and recognition they deserve.

So it's understandable if there is a slight sense of trepidation at the prospect of Florida Georgia Line - and, by association in many people's minds, Bro-Country - making a return in 2026.

FGL's material in the early 2020's, shortly before their break-up, did signify the beginning of a maturer shift away from the rowdy, alcohol-drenched scenes of ‘Cruise’ and ‘Sun Daze’. Across both Can't Say I Ain't Country and Life Rolls On, Hubbard and Kelley sing from the perspective of two firmly settled-down husbands, with songs like ’Blessings’, ‘Simple’, ‘Good to Me’ and ‘Life Looks Good’ all situating the duo in the then-emerging sound of Boyfriend Country, rather than Bro-Country.

At least in terms of the narrative, Hubbard's subsequent solo material felt like a direct continuation of this evolution, while Kelley's leant more towards a bright, sunny beach-country sound. When he wasn't toasting the coast, though, the Sunshine State of Mind protagonist was serenading his wife and being grateful for little moments of joy, rather than staying out ‘til 3am at parties and looking for a one-night-stand.

As a result, we suspect a new era of Florida Georgia Line would revolve around more grown-up narratives, eschewing the obsession with Daisy Dukes and bikinis that permeated Bro-Country. FGL's music, at least to this writer, has always feeling broadly like a celebration of life, and we think this will be the tone they opt for in 2026.

Even so, FGL can't help the fact that they gave rise to Bro-Country, and we think it would be a nice touch for THubb and BK to link up with some of the trailblazing women in country on their comeback album, just to consolidate this idea that, if we're getting a 2026 version of Bro-Country, it's going to be Bro-and-Sis-Country.

With Florida Georgia Line sending out text messages to fans teasing that “some things are just better together” and that there is “much more to come”, it seems their CMA Fest set - or sets - is just the beginning. And given how many summer, windows-down earworms and jubilant, feel-good anthems THubb and BK have gifted us over the years, we can't wait to hear them performing and recording together. They changed the country world in the 2010s - who's to say they can't do it again.

For more on Florida Georgia Line, see below: