Brooke Hogan is defending her decision to cover the late Aaliyah’s 2000 hit “Try Again” as she marks her return to the music industry.
“Obviously, I have talked about this whole debacle with ‘Try Again,’ right?” Hogan, 38, said in a video shared via Instagram on Friday, May 15. “It’s like, literally, ‘Dust Brooke off and have her try music again’ is the theme. So we did.”
Because Hogan said producers and music executives “want nostalgia” and wanted “old school Brookie,” she decided to do a “couple covers” after she revealed she would be releasing new music for the first time in years with her new single “Wanna Go Back,” a complex ode to her late father, Hulk Hogan. (Hulk died in July 2025 at the age of 71 after suffering cardiac arrest.)
“I love Aaliyah. I love ‘Try Again.’ This makes sense with my whole vibe, what I’m going through,” Brooke explained. “I love her.”
She added, “You’d think I was, like, dropping the American flag on the ground. Some people were like, ‘This is not cool. She’s trying to’ … Uh, what’s the word for it — not ‘associate,’ you know what I mean. ‘Trying to be Black.’ I’m like, ‘I know I’m not Black.’ That doesn’t mean I can’t like Black culture. Doesn’t mean I can’t be an Aaliyah fan. It doesn’t mean I can’t do a cover.”
Brooke went on to recall the word she was trying to remember — “appropriation” — before denying claims she was trying to steal parts of Black culture and pass it off as her own.
“No, I’m not doing that,” she continued in the video. “But you can’t be mad at a girl if she likes Black culture. Sorry. I have spent the last 15 years being tormented over it, but you know — can’t help it. Love what I love. Like what I like. I was raised on hip hop, funk, you name it. Some people are raised on country music. I was not.”
Brooke then detailed what she says happened to the comments section of her social media after she posted a picture with a producer that she worked with “back when I was with Lou Pearlman.” The producer was Black, and she says the comment she received in the wake of the public picture is proof positive that racism is “alive” and well.
“I made a comment on my own post saying, ‘If you question, if you wonder if racism is alive, just look at my comments section.’ Just check it out,” she said. “Just ask a white girl who has truly had a relationship with someone who is Black — just ask if they think that racism is alive. If you have experienced being with somebody of another race, or if you are that person of another race dating a white person, it’s very much alive and that’s very sad.”
She added, “So you know, I’ve never seen color and I’ve always liked Black music.”
Brooke captioned the honest upload, “‘TRY AGAIN’ IS FINALLY OUT AND I HAVE ALL THE MUSIC BUTTERFLIES AGAIN!!! Man, this feels good!”
“Thank you SO MUCh for your support!” Brooke continued in the caption. “Fans old and new! I love you! You have always allowed me to be my authentic self and YOU made my dreams come back to life. THANK YOU!”
