"Ain't the Same" is a song recorded by Canadian

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

artist

Brett Kissel Brett Kissel (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian country music, country singer. He has achieved four number-one hits on the Canadian country chart with "Airwaves (Brett Kissel song), Airwaves", "Drink About Me", "A Few Good Stories", and "Make a L ...

featuring American

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

vocal group

98 Degrees 98 Degrees (stylized as 98°) is an American vocal group consisting of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre. Their first Christmas album '' This Christmas'' has sold over two million copies and is widely recognized ...

. Kissel wrote the song with Karen Kosowski and

Tim Nichols Tim Nichols (born in Portsmouth, Virginia) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since the late 1980s, Nichols has written for several country music singers including Keith Whitley, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, ...

, while Kosowski produced the track. It was the lead single off Kissel's 2023 studio album '' The Compass Project – South Album''.

Background

Kissel and his co-writers wrote the song with inspiration stemming from the idea of "how much sweeter everything is when we get to experience life's gifts with the people we cherish most". Kissel cited his relationship with his wife Cecilia as his personal inspiration. He initially did not intend for it to be a collaboration, before he laid down vocals on the demo and realized the potential of the song. Kissel's manager Jim Cressman had been friends for a long time with Jeff Timmons of

, and knew that the band was initially looking to make a

album so he sent them "Ain't the Same" to gauge their interest in recording it. At this point, the band had abandoned their plans for a full album, but were nonetheless interested in the song and asked Cressman if Kissel was interested in joining them on the track. Kissel immediately approved of the collaboration, and 98 Degrees recorded their parts within several days from a studio in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Critical reception

Bethany Bowman of the '' Tennessee Star'' stated that the song "offers a unique blend of pop and modern country, highlighting Kissel’s warm, rich vocals and paired with the infectious harmonies of 98 Degrees," adding that it was "sure to entice listeners of all genres and from all age groups". Michael Major of ''Broadway World'' described the song as a "unique blend of pop and modern country," saying it puts "a fresh, lighthearted spin on the concept of finding one's perfect match". Markos Papadatos of ''Digital Journal'' called the track an "upbeat song" with a "clever chorus that parallels the narrator’s relationship and famous pairings that just aren’t quite right when not together".

Commercial performance

"Ain't the Same" peaked at number 33 on the ''Billboard''

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart for the week of September 3, 2022, marking the lowest peak of Kissel's career to-date. It also peaked at number 31 on the

Canadian Digital Song Sales The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart is compiled and releas ...

for the week of May 7, 2022, after the song's initial release.

Live performance

Kissel performed "Ain't the Same" live on

Citytv Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...

's ''

Breakfast Television Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news broadcasting, news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts Live television, live in the morning (typically broadcast pro ...

'' program in Canada in June 2022. Kissel and 98 Degrees performed the song together at

2022 Canadian Country Music Awards The 2022 Canadian Country Music Awards, honouring achievements in Canadian country music, were presented on September 11, 2022 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, and broadcast by the Global Television Network. The ceremony was host ...

from the

Scotiabank Saddledome Scotiabank Saddledome is a multi-use indoor arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located in Stampede Park in the southeast end of downtown Calgary, the Saddledome was built in 1983 to replace the Stampede Corral as the home of the Calgary Flames ...

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

on September 11, 2022. The show was broadcast live on

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

in Canada, while a video of their performance was uploaded to

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on September 20, 2022.

Music video

The official music video for "Ain't the Same" was directed by Aaron Huisman and premiered on April 30, 2022. It features the members of

showing the tourist

around

. At one point, Kissel uses

FaceTime FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facin ...

to speak to his wife and children, with his family later surprising him at a show in Los Angeles. Kissel remarked that he was surprised at the amount of

paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

that was surrounding 98 Degrees at the video shoot.

Charts

References

{{authority control 2022 songs 2022 singles Brett Kissel songs 98 Degrees songs Country ballads Songs written by Brett Kissel Songs written by Tim Nichols Songs written by Karen Kosowski