The country star got his start translating tragedy into a Music Row-ready hit: A couple years after his Paradise, California, home burned down in a 2018 wildfire, Smith spun TikTok gold with a catchy love song called “Wildfire”. His rock-inflected sound and twangy rasp quickly made him one of Nashville’s most promising young talents, earning him a deal with Sony Music Nashville and plenty of buzz around his nostalgic major-label debut single “Raised Up” and the gospel-inflected “I Don’t Wanna Go to Heaven”. It was the hard-edged “Whiskey on You”, though, that proved Smith would be a force at country radio for the foreseeable future when it reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. Smith’s follow-up, the similarly anthemic “World on Fire”, became an even bigger crossover hit, reaching No. 21 on the Hot 100. High-profile collaborations with Alesso and Avril Lavigne followed, with Smith expanding his reach far beyond Music City.