Review: Kane Brown is on top of the country world and pop could be next

Kane Brown might end up being the next Taylor Swift.

No, that’s not so much a prediction that he’ll someday sell out multiple nights at mammoth football stadiums like Tay-Tay. Although, Brown is headlining this Saturday at Southern California’s giant Stagecoach Festival, so football stadiums could be right around the corner for this rapidly rising star.

The more pertinent point to this comparison is that Brown could become the next major pop crossover artist to hail from the country music realm.

And, really, he shouldn’t have to change much of his game to accomplish that feat.

During his highly anticipated concert at the SAP Center in San Jose on Thursday (April 27), Brown showcased numerous reasons why he’s such an appealing crossover candidate, as the vocalist thrilled the crowd with ample amounts of star power, stage presence and pure talent during the course of 19 songs. Perhaps most significantly, he was able to convincingly and pretty much seamlessly stitch together a wide variety of musical styles.

Brown opened this stop on the Drunk or Dreaming Tour with “Lose It” and “Grand,” neither of which sounds all that much like what you’d expect to hear on country radio today. The former, a chart-topper from 2018’s album “Experiment,” is country in its core, but it’s the rock edge that really defines it. The later, from 2022’s “Different Man,” feels wonderfully original for the mainstream country realm, a kind of rap-rock-soul-pop hybrid that actually managed to make some noise on the pop charts.

From there, the 29-year-old Tennessean zoomed back to far more traditional country fare and had the 13,000-plus fans in attendance singing along to “I Love Country Music,” another stand-out cut from “Different Man,” Kane’s gold-certified latest full-length album.

He’d also connect with the crowd in various ways, such as when he grabbed a T-shirt launcher and sent souvenirs flying out to grateful fans, all while never missing a beat as he sang the words to “Famous Friends.”

He also opened up to the crowd, briefly discussing his own challenges with depression as an intro to the hip-hop/pop-fueled “Memory.”

“I go through depression,” he said. “No matter how much money you make or what house you live in, it’s going to happen.

“Don’t feel like you are alone.”

While “Memory” felt like something that could’ve come from the Post Malone catalog, the next number — the triple-platinum-selling “Be Like That” from 2020’s EP “Mixtape, Vol. 1” — was a peppy, acoustic-driven folk-pop number that recalled Jason Mraz’s best-known works.

He’d then showcase his tender side as he waltzed through three consecutive ballads —  “Used to Love You Sober,” “Homesick” and, the most impressive of the bunch, “Heaven” — before bouncing back into action with the Eric Church-style barnburner “Bury Me in Georgia.”