Hey, Jimmie Allen just celebrated his first No. 1 single. So what came next?
Yep, he went to Disney World.
But don’t think he took a cue from all those old Disney commercials featuring Super Bowl MVPs.
The “Best Shot” singer was geeking out on the mythic theme park long before he topped the charts. In fact, he took his son, Aadyn, now 4, to Disney World for the first time when he was still a baby.
“Yeah, it was an excuse to go,” Allen sheepishly concedes to PEOPLE. “It was more for me.”
Ya think?
At Allen’s first No. 1 party, held Tuesday at a Nashville club, the 32-year-old artist described his latest “epic” Disney World trip with Aadyn and other family members, an almost two-week indulgence over the holidays that all his recent success has allowed.
Or, as Allen put it, “Having radio success just means I can afford to take my son to Disney World without selling a kidney.”
An exaggeration, no doubt — but not much of one. Back as a struggling artist, Allen says, he worked two jobs at a time for several months just to afford to take Aadyn to the Florida park each year, further pinching pennies by driving rather than flying to Orlando and booking less-expensive quarters off the Disney property.
The boy is now old enough to fully enjoy the experience, but Allen has found that has created a problem: “Now he thinks Disney World is real life. Oh, yeah. He expects it now.”
A few days ago, Allen explained at a press conference before the party, Aadyn asked him, “Dad, can we go back?”
“I was like, yeah, when?” Allen said, recounting the conversation. “He said, ‘Now.’ I was like, ‘We can’t.’ He said, ‘Yeah, unh-unh.’ I said, ‘How will we do that?’ He said, ‘Get on a plane … Dad, planes leave the airport every day.’”
Allen grudgingly knew what was next: the money-doesn’t-grow-on-trees lesson. “So I got into dad mode,” he said, “and just, you know, had to break things down to him.”
Now wrapping up his tour with headliner Scotty McCreery, Allen will head back on the road again to support Kane Brown on his “Live Forever” tour, which launches Feb. 15 in Rockford, Ill.
Both men are well aware they’re breaking new ground as African-American country artists.
“Man, I was actually texting Kane the other day, saying, ‘Bro, you realize our first show together is history because someone said there’s never been two black country artists that have ever toured together,’” Allen said.
Granger Smith is also sharing a bill with the two, inspiring Allen to nickname it “the Oreo Tour.” But then Smith reminded Allen he’s bringing along his hayseed alter-ego, Earl Dibbles Jr., suggesting it should be called the “Double-Stuffed Oreo Tour.”
“So if you come out to the tour, bring your milk, people,” Allen mischievously commanded. “It’s gonna be a good time.”
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