HARDY at 'Stars and Strings'

The cat's outta the bag... New music from HARDY is on the way and, according to him, it’s easily the best music he’s ever released. “Next year I’m gonna be putting out a lot of music,” he told Katie & Co.’s Katie Neal before hitting the stage at Audacy’s Stars and Strings on November 1. “It’s just time. The next record is going to be the best [and] the coolest thing I think I've done so far. Trust me, the title track off the next record is gonna be the coolest thing I've done so far. I guarantee it.” While he couldn’t elaborate any more on what’s to come, he can finally talk about his newly announced CMA performance alongside Morgan Wallen and Post Malone. “I’ve manifested this for years,” the 33-year-old said of the live performance scheduled for next week’s CMA Awards. “Slight flex here, but I started following him [Post Malone] when he had like, 300k Instagram followers. I was on the White Iverson terrain, like the first thing that he ever put out and I was like, ‘this is dope,’ and I've been with him ever since.” The performance will be Posty’s first at the CMAs (no surprise there) and there’s no one better to show him the ropes than HARDY and Wallen. The trio is scheduled to deliver a “Country Medley” of yet-to-be-revealed classics. “I just like what he’s done for Hip Hop and for Pop music -- it’s just great,” HARDY concluded. “I’ve always said that from the very beginning.” It's safe to say there won’t be much of HARDY’s famous head-banging during the November 8 performance, but for those curious, the Mississippi native shared how he keeps his signature thick-rimmed glasses on his face when he gets lost in the music. “There’s like a specific motion I can do to keep them from falling,” he revealed after saying there’s never a strap holding them on. “I can feel them if I go too hard or whatever.” For more from HARDY, press play on his entire interview with Katie Neal above. Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal