Ashley Gorley presents Nate Smith with Rookie of the Year at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.
Ashley Gorley:
It is my privilege to present this year’s Billboard Rookie of the Year Award to my friend Nate Smith. Any Nate Smith fans in the house, come on. Within the first few minutes of my first writing session with Nate, I was a Nate Smith fan. He was kind, thankful, excited, personable, ready to learn and contribute. Someone I wanted to be friends with and help any way that I could. He was a rock star with a one-of-a-kind voice, creating his own lane in country music, and I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past couple of years and his work ethic character and talent has grown every day.
Nate’s journey started 15 years ago, when he made the move to Nashville. He played the Broadway bars, wrote songs, did the thing. He ended up moving back home after a while, but he kept grinding from his hometown to keep his dream alive. Then he posted some stuff on TikTok and his world changed. He hustled until everybody knew how good he was, and he had no choice but to move back to Nashville because every one body wanted him there.
Fast forward to today, and I’d say coming back to Nashville was the right call. His debut single, “Whiskey on You,” soared to No. 1 on country radio, was certified double platinum. His current single, “Bulletproof,” is closing in on top 10 on radio, his song “World on Fire” made history with a record-breaking 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1.
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