Brian Kelley Loves 'Being the Captain' on Solo Tour After Florida Georgia Line's Breakup (Exclusive)

Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season 13 finale of The Masked Singer.

Florida Georgia Line alum Brian Kelley spoke throughout his time on The Masked Singer season 13 about going solo after the duo split up in 2022. During the May 7 finale — in which he took fourth place as Mad Scientist Monster and winner Pearl unmasked as Gretchen Wilson — Kelley, 39, shouted out his dad Ed for helping him realized that “going solo is the right choice after all.”  

Now, as Kelley prepares to head out on his Sunshine State of Mind tour in July, the county singer tells PEOPLE he loves running the show as a solo artist.

“I'm excited about another headline tour and to bring the party," he says. “Some of these venues I've been to, I'm super excited to get back, and some venues I haven't played. I love being the captain of our ship and bringing our world to the road. We've got some momentum and we've all been working really hard. We're going to go hard.”

Kelley says fans can expect his time as Mad Scientist Monster to affect his music. “I went from Masked Singer right into recording vocals for Sunshine State of Mind Season 2 Chapter 1 within weeks,” he explains. “My voice felt great, and my whole world felt like it reopened up. I felt an immediate release.”

The show also helped Kelly realize he has an identify beyond Florida Georgia Line. “I’m guilty of [saying], ‘This is what I am. This is the brand.’ I can be hard on myself,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it's like, just do what's fun, do what you love, do what's real to you and that's what music is and should be.”

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Kelly admits he sometimes gets recognizes still as “one of the guys from FGL,” but he hopes that might change after being unmasked as Mad Scientist Monster. “Maybe I'll be walking down the street and they'll be like, ‘Hey, Mad Scientist Monster,’” the Florida native says. “That'd be cool.”

The "Acres" singer shares the song he would’ve sang if he made the final two, why he felt “oddly at home” inside the Mad Scientist Monster costume and the reason he took issue with the judges suggesting he could be Trace Adkins.

PEOPLE: You come from a sports background, so did you come in wanting to be competitive and win?

BRIAN KELLEY: The first episode I was like, "All right." You never know how this is going to shake out. I made it through the first one and made it through the next one and kept going. It was like, "Let's see how far we can make it and try to make every moment great. Let's definitely try to win."

What were you feeling when host Nick Cannon announced you came in fourth place?

Sad. Well, mad because I'm Mad Scientist Monster, but bummed. I wanted to keep going. I really enjoyed my time out there and wanted to maybe get another song to sing and see what could happen. But [I was] overwhelmed with gratitude and feeling a lot of support. I had a blast. I had more fun than I thought I would have. It was just even better than I could have dreamed up. I was getting to sing some songs that challenged me vocally. And what a different way to share my voice and my story some with new fans, maybe some old fans. I made some great memories. I'm so grateful, and I would do it all over again, 100%.

Which song would you have performed had you moved to the final two?

Kane Brown, “Miles On It” would've been the one. Dang, that was a good one. But all good. I did as best I could and had a blast. Left with some great memories, left making some new friends and it was just a great time.

Your wife Brittney made an undercover appearance on the show talking about how she supported you while you worked on your first solo album. What has having her on this journey meant to you?

Everything. She's my best friend, love of my life and we do everything together. From running errands, to I'll drop her off to get her nails done and go pick her up most of the time. We love being together. We have a great time. We have multiple businesses together, which is awesome and fun to create and to collaborate in those ways. She's just as real as can be. There's no question to what she's really thinking or feeling. She'll let you know. My biggest support system is Brittney and my parents, no doubt about it.

You also spoke on the show about how your dad particularly helped you navigate going solo after Florida Georgia Line split up.

My dad's my hero. I love him. My mom is my hero as well. And every step of the way of my life, they've been so supportive and helped guide me, no matter what I go through. We did a show in St. Augustine recently, and we went home to stay with my parents in Ormond about 45 minutes away. My dad was just throwing out some awesome advice, and he's like, "I have this vision of you. Maybe you should just stay total beach cowboy and own that now that you've circled back with Season Two." And I'm like, "Dad, that funny because I've been kind of thinking that, too, a little bit."

He's always full of advice from fixing something to just helping anybody out. I love his heart. He's always been a giver and a helper to family, friends or people that he didn't even know. That’s really where Sunshine State of Mind was born, was my parents and being raised and living in Florida still. I love them to death.

What did you make of some of the guesses the judges were throwing out throughout the season, like Sam Hunt and Billy Ray Cyrus?

I remember Trace Adkins was thrown out and I was like, "I don't know." Because he's got a big voice. Big deep voice. Some of my favorite guesses I saw between the judges and online, I think Joe Nichols, Ronnie Dunn, two legends. I was like, "Well, if they think that, I'm in good company." That makes me feel real good. I'll take that compliment any day. I left with a deeper sense of confidence, and I took pride in going out there and trying to do my best and trying to connect with fans.

At the end of the day, it was really fun to have done that work, and to relive it now. And maybe I've made some new fans along the way, that's cool. I think people are like, "Holy cow, I didn't even know that he could do that," or, "I didn't even know who he was." That's cool. I'm just grateful for the opportunity, the exposure.

What was it like performing as Mad Scientist Monster?

It was pretty hot. But I'm an OG Florida boy, so I'm used to that. It wasn't too terrible. Just a little sweat in the eyes here and there. The hardest thing really was, the little cutout where you look through isn't huge. So the only thing I was really worried about at all times was tripping on my big boot feet things. You're just like, "Don't fall on TV. Do not fall in front of these fans, this live audience. Don't even think about it." That was the only thing I was really concerned about.

But I felt oddly at home inside this costume, just being myself. It was a wild feeling.

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The Masked Singer season 13 is streaming now on Hulu.