Brad Paisley Releases Song Featuring President Zelenskyy In Support Of Ukrainians

Country superstar singer, guitar player, songwriter and producer Brad Paisley has written a song to support Ukrainians suffering as a result of the illegal invasion of their country - 'Same Here’. Its message is similar to Sting’s cold war tune ‘Russians,’ which said “I hope the Russians love their children too."

But ‘Same Here’ is more subtle, mentioning life in another US state, in Mexico, and in an unnamed foreign country “across the ocean”. And there’s another major difference: it features parts of a genuine conversation Paisley had, via Zoom, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Paisley asks Zelenskyy “What's 'Same here' in Ukrainian?” The President answers: "'Так само'. We speak different languages in our life. Yes, but I think we appreciate the same things - children, freedom, our flag, our soldiers, our people. The biggest treasure we have. And friends. And we're proud of our army who defends our freedom and will defend our lives.”

Paisley dropped the song February 24th, 2023, He told Associated Press that he wrote the song after watching news showing Russian troops invading Ukraine. He said, "On this one year anniversary of the invasion, I'm reminded of the ways we are all so similar. You can put us in different places with different flags and different languages, but we have so many similarities. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't sort of swing for the fence with things like this. For me, I'm happiest dealing with stuff as a songwriter that's very true and very, very passionate. And sometimes I don't know if you'd call it risky, but it's more like it's bigger than me."

He noted that he does not expect country music radio stations to play it, even though “it’s a very country record” and features country superstars Jerry Douglas on dobro and Dan Tyminski on mandolin. He added that there will not be a radio edit without President Zelenskyy.

Paisley is an ambassador for United24 fundraising campaign, which builds houses for Ukrainians displaced by the war, and royalties for ‘Same Here’ will be donated to the charity.

Listen to ‘Same Here’ via your chosen streaming service here: https://strm.to/SameHere or click 'play' below.

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