Anybody but the Chiefs
Tippecanoe High School teacher and musician Cory Breth just wanted to make a light-hearted song about his favorite team, the Cincinnati Bengals. Actually, it was more about the team that keeps winning Super Bowls and has taken the NFL by storm the past half-decade: the two-time Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Now Breth, who released a one-minute anthem about the next champion being anyone but the Chiefs, has seen his work explode on the national stage.
“I have challenged myself to write more fun and lighthearted songs because the songs I release are typically pretty heavy,” he said. “This summer, I wrote a handful of football songs and how excited I was for the season to start. I wrote a line about the Chiefs and thought it needed to be its own thing.”
“I then started writing the Chiefs song that went viral. I reached out to a couple of buddies for a funny idea for a video where I was singing to the camera, and when I backed up, there would be people wearing different jerseys.”
After conferring with friends to make this happen, Breath knew it had to be better.
“I rewrote it for the video, and we did a one-take video. I reached out to my friends on my Instagram stories, and we had a dozen people show up and do it in one take.”
Breath posted the full version of the song, and a couple of days later, he posted a clip of the chorus about the Chiefs. They both gained life and took off.
“It has over three million views together right now, which was very unexpected,” he said. “I posted it on the first Tuesday of September, and it was getting comments from family and friends. Then, on Thursday morning, I was beginning to see people I did not recognize commenting, and by the weekend, it was on its way to a million.”
“It was getting a couple hundred thousand every few hours, which is crazy. It was a slow burn for a few days; then it took off. I have never had anything like that happen to me.”
Typically, Breth spends a lot of time and money on an album, but this time, with football season beginning, he used a quick sentence that garnered quite the attention.
“I work two years on an album, spend $7,000, and climb mountains to get photos. This happens with a two-hour project total,” he joked. “I did think it would be well received because it resonates with people since the Chiefs have been in four of the last five Super Bowls. So, when I said that sentence to people about football, I said ‘anybody but the Chiefs,’ I did not plan for it to become the one-line anthem or anything.”
Breth said he had seen a comment from fans of every single team at this point. He believes his song was plugged into a Kansas City algorithm where it grew on its own.
“That’s when it really started blowing up, and people are seeing it on their “for you” page. Honestly, that is probably half the views and comments,” he said, adding it has been on the radio in Missouri, and people are sharing it on social media. Even Chiefs player Justin Reed commented on the song on X.
Anybody but the Chiefs
Dear Chiefs, it’s me
Don’t do this again
Fifteen, with the goatee, give someone else a chance
T Kelce, king Swiftie, go focus on romance
Coach Reid, retreat, move that mustache to France
When Kansas City falls, we’ll beat our chest like Donkey Kong
We root for different teams, but I think we can agree:
Anybody But The Chiefs
