Luke Combs: This one’s for you
After only picking up a guitar for the first time seven years ago, American country artist Luke Combs has been selling out venues across Australia with his debut album tour ‘This one’s for you’. I decided to take a closer look at this exciting album.
Combs was the first artist in history to have his first five singles all jump to Number 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay charts. The album itself spent 30 weeks at number 1 on the Country Billboard charts and has since gone ‘double platinum‘ (over 2 million copies).
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Most country songs are about drinking beer, driving a truck and everything about ‘being country’. It would be false to say that those themes did not feature in the album, but because Combs co-wrote every song, the album looks at his own past experiences and how they have moulded him into the person he is today.
The 29 year-olds talent is combining his kick-back country demeanour with very enticing pop hooks, which I think is the flame that has set his career alight. With his booming vocals and gentle melodies, Combs touches on heartbreak a fair bit in his songs. Tracks such as ‘Hurricane’ and ‘She got the best of me’ show that it is okay to just lay all the emotions out on the table. In another one of his tracks ‘When it rains it pours’, I noticed he used the heartbreaking experience and turned it into an upbeat tune about how his luck turned around and claims ‘that it all started on the day that she walked out’.
Combs chose to name his debut album ‘This one’s for you’ because of how grateful he is for the people that helped him along the way. He claims that his rise to stardom was off the back of his fans on-going support. Early on in his career, he needed $3000 to record a group of songs he was working on, so Combs pleaded for help on Facebook and received donations, from friends, family and even complete strangers. This generosity lead to the launch of his first EP in 2014.
For those who are interested to listening into some of Luke Combs’ songs, here are my top picks.
This one is for you
The headline track of the album ‘This one is for you’, is a touching melody that unveils the people behind his story. Combs names people such as his parents and friends to be the inspiration for his success and claims that ‘there’s a couple people that [he] owes a beer to and three or four [he] owes more than a few’. The thoughts that I had from listening to this track is that it gives Combs a sense of humility and humbleness about his work as an artist. The song really looks into how he is as person and how truly grateful he is. Not the top song on the album, but it is up there.
7/10
One Number away
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That awkward moment before making a risky phone call. ‘One number away’ captures the split second before you start to gravitate back to someone you cannot get over and is the essence of the song. Being stuck in that phase of not wanting to call, but also wanting to hear that persons voice. It’s one of Combs’ best and is highly relatable to people that a stuck trying to move on but can’t. He mentions the pure emotion it takes into dialling those numbers up and all the questions that are filtered through your head. A bit of different feel from some of his more upbeat tunes, but it is definitely one for all those people struggling to move on.
8/10
When it Rains it pours
This was Combs’ most famous track from the album and went platinum three times over. The song is about a guy who had just broken up with his girlfriend and starts to find life very enjoyable. The term ‘when it rains, it pours’, generally means a flow of bad things that happen in quick succession. However, Combs uses that term and flips it around and after he breaks up with his girlfriend, good thing start to happen and he realises he didn’t need her in the first place. It’s an interesting take on an imploding relationship, but because he doesn’t have to ‘see his ex-future mother-in-law anymore’, things start to go his way. Certainly deserves the praise and personally my favourite from the album mainly because of the story it tells.
9.5/10
The Album
The album ‘This one’s for you’ gives viewers great insight into the person Luke Combs is. The album has made a few car trips that little bit better when listening and there are a few songs that I would definitely go for when I am feeling down. The way he expresses his emotions in words is phenomenal and some of the lyrics are ones that cement themselves in your brain. ‘This one’s for you’ has no doubt kickstarted Combs’ career, but it seems like there is plenty more to come for this country superstar.
Album rating: 8/10
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