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PEOPLE: Luke Bryan Says He's 'Better Looking' Than Blake Shelton and Should've Been the One Named Sexiest Man Alive
Shelton was PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive in 2017
By Daniela Avila
Luke Bryan is shading his good friend Blake Shelton.
The "Play It Again" singer appeared on an episode of the video series Are Ya'll Okay? on Thursday, June 11, and had a hilarious answer when asked to name a hill he's "willing to die on."
"I am better looking than Blake Shelton," Bryan, 49, said.
"[I] should have won PEOPLE's sexiest man," he continued. "I can die on that hill."
Bryan and Shelton have a long history of friendly rivalry. Most recently, in March, Bryan shared a hilarious video on Instagram explaining the lyrics to his song "Word on the Street" — and he dissed the "Sangria" singer in the process.
In the video, Bryan, who's set to release his ninth studio album Signs on Sept. 18, explained that the lyrics "BS-free" meant "Blake Shelton-free."
The month prior, the "I Lived It" singer called out a fan for wearing a Bryan T-shirt at one of his shows.
"You come to my show wearing Luke Bryan s---," he said with a smile in a TikTok video. "What's the matter with you? That guy's an idiot."
In conversation with CMT in October of last year, the interviewer told Bryan that he was still ahead in his No. 1 hit songs tally compared to Shelton — and Bryan said that's what kept him going.
"That's the only reason that I'm still in the game of country music, to stay ahead," Bryan joked. "I thought he was retiring — he's back putting songs out. It's not the deal we had."
At the time, Bryan produced 32 No. 1 hit country songs, while Shelton had 30.
Shelton was named PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive in 2017. Five years later, Bryan photoshopped himself onto the cover.
"Don't doubt me @katyperry, the @people love me and I'm the favorite country judge!" Bryan wrote on X at the time. "Don't be jealous @blakeshelton." The "God's Country" singer played along, responding: "My God buddy I hope that works out better for you!!!!! 😂"
https://people.com/luke-bryan-says-hes-better-looking-than-blake-shelton-11996367
How wild, unpredictable Spotify House became CMA Fest's hottest stage
Wild nights at Spotify House have become a part of Nashville folklore, from spontaneous sing-alongs to crowds so rowdy they border on the ungovernable.
Each year during CMA Fest for the past seven years, Spotify takes over Ole Red on Broadway, curating a lineup of country stars and surprise drop-in performances.
There are no tickets. Hours-long lines wrap down Broadway and around the corner. Fans are eager because you never know what you might see inside the 1,200-person-capacity venue.
There was the time in 2019 when Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus led a rowdy crowd in a singalong of "Old Town Road" during the hit's peak.
"People still talk about it as being like a fire hazard," said Claire Heinechen, senior editor of Spotify Country. And when Nelly came out a couple years back? "I thought the roof was going to fall off," she said.
Or last year when Blake Shelton hit the stage? His wife Gwen Stefani sang along with a raucous crowd.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of Spotify’s Fresh Finds stage, the rooftop area that highlights emerging country artists. From Ella Langley to Megan Moroney, some of country music’s biggest breakout stars first played the Fresh Finds rooftop years before they became arena headliners.
“It’s a chance for fans to feel like they were in on the ground floor,” Heinechen said.
In anticipation of this year's CMA Fest, which runs Thursday, June 4 through Sunday, June 7, The Tennessean sat down with Spotify to learn how their CMA Fest stages have helped launch careers.
What is Spotify House?
Spotify House is a three-day live music series in Nashville curated from June 4 to 6 by Spotify’s Hot Country playlist team.
The performances take place at Blake Shelton's four-story honky-tonk on two different stages, one for established stars, and another for emerging voices shaping the genre.
Over the years, the series has featured performances from Luke Bryan, Cody Johnson, Kane Brown, Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban, Jelly Roll and Reba McEntire.
This year’s Main Stage lineup includes Brothers Osborne, Tucker Wetmore, Dasha, Avery Anna and Carter Faith, alongside returning favorites.
While Spotify House is free, the event has developed a mystique for being notoriously hard to gain access to as a fan. The spot is where a who's who of Nashville's music industry posts up each night, from A&R reps to booking agents.
How Fresh Finds tries to be on 'on the cutting edge' of hot country
The Main Stage at Spotify House sees most of the action, with both the first and second floors of the bar serving as a balcony level to watch the performances from up above.
The rooftop, which has a 250-person capacity, features Fresh Finds' emerging acts.
Over the past 10 years, Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlists have highlighted more than 70,000 independent artists across genres, blending advanced algorithms with human curation to bring new music to fans. The playlists are sorted by genre, including Latin, indie, rock, pop, dance, folk, country and more.
Artists from Zach Bryan and Tanner Adell to Ethel Cain and Clairo were first featured on Fresh Finds.
This year's Fresh Finds Rooftop will feature Lilly Meola, Tyce Delk, Logan Crosby, Max Alan, Gareth and Abbie Callahan, all of which aspire to be main-stage acts in the future.
These are the artists that Spotify is taking a gamble on — and data has shown that a good amount of their past bets have been spot-on.
Nearly 20% of the artists who have taken the Fresh Finds stage from 2022 to 2025 have surpassed one million monthly listeners on Spotify, including Megan Moroney, Max McNown, Sam Barber, Zach Top and Ella Langley, who has seen the most substantial increase — 15,700% — in her streams.
“It’s a place to discover an artist you’ve never heard before, and then brag you saw them early," said Heinechen. "We try to be on the cutting edge of what’s coming up."
There are a number of factors that go into deciding which artists will hit the stage.
“We play this incredible game of Jigsaw to build the lineup," said Heinechen. “It’s a combination of editorial, artist and label teams all building something very specific to Spotify.”
While artists hit the Fresh Finds stage, Spotify team members are paying close attention to which performers move the needle.
"That rooftop space is such an indication of how an audience feels about an artist, especially if it's someone they've never heard of before," Heinechen said. "I'm sitting there with a magnifying glass watching the crowd react."
If an emerging artist can hold a small audience with rapt attention when they could be anywhere else at CMA Fest, it helps Heinechen predict the next big thing and be better informed in her work.
"We felt that way about Meghan Moroney," Heinechen said.
Moroney took the Fresh Finds stage in 2022 as an unsigned artist and sang her track "Hair Salon," a track that was also featured on a Fresh Finds playlist that year.
“(That) introduced my music to so many new listeners early on," Moroney said. "Fresh Finds does such a great job shining a light on emerging talent and giving artists opportunities to be seen and heard at such an important stage in their careers.”
At Moroney's CMA Fest show, "it was pin-drop quiet until everyone started singing the chorus with her," Heinechen said. "She was brand new, and she had this like rowdy audience singing along to a heartbreak song. That does not happen often."
Months later, Moroney dropped her breakout single "Tennessee Orange" and signed with Sony Music Nashville and Columbia Records.
Since that performance, Moroney's streams have increased 10,900%.
Country singer Vincent Mason also feels his Spotify House performance was a major career game-changer.
"Getting to play the Fresh Finds Rooftop in 2024 right after releasing 'Hell is a Dancefloor' was one of the first times I felt like my music was reaching people in a real way," said Mason. "As a new artist, you always remember those moments."
This year, Mason will play Spotify House's Main Stage.
A fan's best strategy to get into Spotify House
A few years ago, Spotify decided to start flipping its crowd halfway through each day.
“People were waiting all day and not getting in, and that just isn’t a good fan experience." Now, they clear the house "smack in the middle of the lineup," Heinechen said.
So the best bet to get into Spotify House is to pinpoint which artists you want to see from the lineup at olered.com and plan around one of the audience flips, hopping in line shortly after the crowd changes.
Either way, the consensus is in: Spotify House is the room (and the roof) where it happens.
Spotify takes over Blake Shelton's bar Ole Red on Broadway every year, curating a lineup of established country music stars.
JISOO is BLACKPINK’s biggest fangirl 🖤ㅣHighlight CrumbsㅣSpotify House
Tell me, tell me you’ll meet me
Will you meet me more than halfway up?
Kelsea at Spotify House on June 9, 2023. Photo from Kelsea Central.
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Listen up, ATX! We’re serving up a whole lot of Shack at this year’s Spotify House. All week long, attendees can feast on ShackBurgers, Shack Stacks, ‘Shroom Burgers (for our vegetarian buds), fries and cheese fries. Can’t make it? We’re keeping the energy high with our Spotify House-themed playlist featuring @daywavemusic, @wearelucius, @hindsband and other Shack faves: http://bit.ly/shack-spotify-house