FILMORE Gets Real, Gets Personal, and Gets Back to His Roots on Bold New 21-Track Project
- All Country News
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
FILMORE is stepping into 2026 with momentum, and he’s doing it entirely on his own terms.
Fresh off a bucket-list New Year’s Eve performance at Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve and the release of a high-energy collaboration with Pitbull, the Missouri native is riding a career-high wave. But behind the big moments lies something even more meaningful: Atypical, a 21-track project that marks a full-circle return to the way FILMORE fell in love with music in the first place.
“This project, I kind of did it my way,” FILMORE shares with All Country News, and he means it. Co-writing every track and co-producing the majority of the album, the singer-songwriter stripped away outside noise and expectations, leaning fully into instinct and authenticity.
Instead of chasing trends or fitting into a predefined “country” box, FILMORE went back to basics, literally. Much of Atypical was crafted in a bedroom studio, echoing the independent grind that launched his career.
“I’m going to build every single part and do exactly what I want… the way I fell in love with music,” he explains.
And fans are hearing the difference.
Returning to the Why: A Creative Reset Years in the Making
At the heart of Atypical is a quiet but powerful shift in mindset.
After years navigating the industry system, labels, radio expectations, and the constant pressure to define what “country” should sound like, FILMORE made a conscious decision to step back and reconnect with the reason he started making music in the first place.
“This project, I kind of did it my way,” he says, a statement that carries weight far beyond the surface.
That meant minimizing outside opinions, tuning out trend-driven thinking, and instead leaning fully into instinct. It meant building songs from the ground up—often in a stripped-down, bedroom studio setting, where creativity could exist without constraint.
“I’m going to build every single part and do exactly what I want… the way I fell in love with music,” he explains.
That return to simplicity is what gives Atypical its emotional depth. There’s a sense of ownership running through every track, not just because FILMORE co-wrote them all and co-produced most of them, but because each one feels intentionally lived-in rather than manufactured.
In many ways, this project isn’t about reinvention, it’s about rediscovery.
Life in Motion: Balancing Fatherhood and a Career on the Rise
While FILMORE’s creative life has been evolving, his personal life has been just as transformative.
Now a father of two children under the age of two, he’s navigating a season of life that is as unpredictable as it is rewarding. And unlike the controlled environment of a studio, parenthood doesn’t allow for careful scheduling or perfectly timed plans.
“You try to plan for kids… and I don’t know what I was thinking,” he admits with a laugh.
Still, despite the chaos, or perhaps because of it, fatherhood has become a grounding force. It’s reshaped his perspective, reminding him what truly matters amid the whirlwind of a rapidly accelerating career.
There’s a noticeable sense of gratitude in the way he talks about it, even as he acknowledges the challenge of juggling sleepless nights with studio sessions and tour dates.
That balance, between personal responsibility and professional ambition, seeps into Atypical, giving the album a layer of emotional authenticity that feels earned rather than performed.
Letting the Music Breathe: Why 21 Songs Felt Right
In an industry that often encourages artists to be selective, sometimes to a fault, FILMORE chose abundance.
Atypical spans 21 tracks, a number that might seem excessive on paper but feels intentional in execution. Rather than trimming the project down to fit a traditional mold, he allowed the creative process to dictate its final shape.
And the truth is, there was no grand strategy behind the number.
“We were having so much fun… by the time I felt like I got what I want, we were just at 21 songs,” he says.
For a songwriter who produces dozens of songs each year, the challenge is rarely about creating, it’s about deciding what to hold back. This time, he chose not to over-curate.
The result is a body of work that feels expansive and unfiltered, offering listeners a fuller picture of who FILMORE is as both an artist and a person. Instead of presenting a tightly controlled narrative, Atypical invites fans into the process itself, the experimentation, the risks, the moments of spontaneity.
Pushing Boundaries: Embracing a Genre-Blending Identity
If Atypical proves anything, it’s that FILMORE isn’t interested in being boxed in.
One of the album’s most defining moments comes in the form of “Reality,” a track that leans heavily into pop influences, so much so that it barely resembles traditional country at all.
“It’s definitely not country in any way,” he admits.
But instead of seeing that as a limitation, FILMORE views it as freedom.
For years, artists in country music have walked a delicate line between honoring tradition and exploring new sounds. For FILMORE, that tension has always been part of his identity. Drawing inspiration from multiple genres and growing up with a wide-ranging musical palette, he’s never felt the need to choose just one lane.
“I love all genres of music… I felt like it was doing a disservice to change it,” he explains.
By leaving “Reality” exactly as it was originally envisioned, he’s signaling a willingness to take risks, even if it means stepping outside expectations. And in doing so, he’s opening the door to new creative possibilities that could shape the next phase of his career.
Reclaiming His Voice as Both Writer and Artist
As a songwriter, FILMORE is used to creating for others. It’s part of the Nashville ecosystem, write the best song possible and let it find the right voice.
But Atypical marks a shift in that dynamic.
Songs like “Beach Bar,” originally written with Parmalee in mind, became something entirely different once FILMORE reimagined them through his own perspective.
“I had to get out of that headspace and be like, ‘No, it’s my song,’” he says.
That realization speaks to a deeper confidence, not just in his songwriting, but in his identity as an artist. It’s a reminder that the stories he tells are just as powerful coming from his own voice as they would be from anyone else’s.
And that confidence is woven throughout the album, giving it a sense of cohesion even as it explores a wide range of sounds and styles.
The Most Honest Feedback Comes from Home
For all the industry metrics that define success, streams, chart positions, radio play, FILMORE has found a more immediate and honest form of feedback at home.
His kids.
Whether it’s his son calming down to “Betcha Gonna,” a song he first heard in the womb, or dancing enthusiastically to “Yeehaw,” their reactions offer something no chart ever could: pure, unfiltered truth.
“That’s the ultimate seal of approval,” FILMORE says.
These moments are small, but they carry weight. They remind him that beyond the career, beyond the milestones, music is still about connection, about how a song makes someone feel in real time.
A Defining Chapter That Feels Like a Beginning
With Atypical, FILMORE isn’t just releasing an album, he’s making a statement about where he stands as an artist.
It’s a project rooted in independence, shaped by personal growth, and driven by a renewed sense of purpose. It embraces contradiction, polished yet raw, structured yet free, deeply personal yet widely relatable.
And perhaps most importantly, it signals that FILMORE is no longer trying to fit into the industry’s expectations.
He’s creating his own.
As momentum continues to build, with radio opportunities on the horizon and new creative lanes opening up, Atypical feels less like a culmination and more like a starting point.
Because for FILMORE, doing it his way isn’t just a phase.
It’s the future.
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