Luke Bryan has teamed up with TikTok to share behind-the-scenes videos for his latest No. 1 country album Born Here Live Here Die Here, Forbes has exclusively learned. For the first time ever, the world’s leading short-form video app has partnered with an artist for a four-part episode campaign that highlights some of the biggest songs on Bryan’s new album. In turn, TikTok influencers and users can join in to bring their own stories to life using Bryan’s music.
“With this new album I wanted to find a different way to bring it to the fans, and the way TikTok has incorporated music on their platform is really awesome,” Bryan tells me. “And, honestly, I love seeing all the videos.”
The superstar is one of the top country artists in-app and has steadily built an engaged fan base with his posts accumulating millions of views since he joined the video-sharing social networking platform in January. His first post, where he poked fun at a TikTok trend, drew nearly 7.5 million views while his wife’s prank received over 29.5 million views.
Isabel Quinteros, senior manager, Music Partnerships and Artist Relations at TikTok, says after watching Bryan’s latest chart topper “One Margarita” take off, the platform felt it was the right time to build a layered campaign that included in-app promotional levers in its Sounds and Discover Page, in addition to Bryan using TikTok Live and working with creators on a campaign.
“After listening to Luke’s new album, the TikTok Music team felt the tracks really lend itself to good storytelling and inspiring content creation,” Quinteros says. “It was his whole album that propelled us to move forward with this new approach. The four episode album campaign features content to ‘Born Here Live Here Die Here’; ‘Where Are We Goin’; ‘One Margarita’, and ‘For a Boat.’ We love how the four posts we've created together shed light on Luke's personal life.”
Each post will bring the track to life with personal footage from Bryan's archives, including time spent with his family at home and out having fun. “It's content that anyone can relate to, especially during these times,” Quinteros says. “The reason why he is so successful is because of his authenticity in every post.
“At TikTok Music, our purpose is to help all kinds of artists connect with the platform, from emerging and tier-1, so this is a great opportunity to support an incredible artist with a great body of work,” she continues.
In support of his new campaign, which launches on TikTok Aug. 22, Bryan will take part in a livestream at 8:30 p.m. ET tonight on the platform. Born Here Live Here Die Here is Bryan’s seventh studio album and his sixth consecutive No. 1 debut on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
“This album has been in the works for a long time,” Bryan says. “I'm grateful to my fans for waiting for it, for radio playing the songs that allowed me to debut a new album with three No. 1 hits and to my entire team for hanging in there and staying just as enthusiastic about this music as me.”