Luke Bryan - “Knockin’ Boots”

[sabre14]

Artist: Luke Bryan
Single: “Knockin’ Boots”
Writers: Jon Nite, Hillary Lindsey, Gordie Sampson
Label: Capitol Nashville/Row Crop Records
Impact Date: April 8th, 2019

This will be sent to radio later today. Luke Bryan’s new single, “Knockin’ Boots.”

[dm2081]

Damn, I really like this one. It's something very different and fresh sounding from him. I like how minimal the production sounds. This is going to be a huge hit this summer.

[justin5545]

Oh my God those snaps (or whatever they are) in the production are just too annoying for me.

[lady𝓐fan]

It seems a little soon to send a brand new song to radio, “What Makes You Country” only peaked a few weeks ago. It sounds much better than Luke’s last two singles (not a huge feat lol) but it’s kind of been there, done that in terms of sound and lyrics.

[bjer127]

I was thinking this could be a release for a new Farm Tour EP. the timing makes sense. EP come out mid summer and then a new studio album at end of year. They hardly marketed or drummed up anticipation for this. But it does sound fresh and different for him

[gonecountry]

It’s a bold move. The snaps could be tuned down a notch, but thank you Jesus that this is different than “Crash my Strip it Down/ Light it Up, Country Party”. Way too many songs that are retreads of one another over the past years. This has some energy, like his earlier hits

[CoJoFan]

Let the battle for the highest debut on Billboard begin. Will it be Luke or Blake???

[countryisking]

By the title I was totally expecting a rehash of "Strip it Down" and "Light it Up" but thankfully I was wrong. I'm thrilled the production is pretty quiet and I don't find the snaps all that annoying. They almost sound like snare hits. It's not his best song but it's better than the two I mentioned above.

[phil1996]

Mar 29, 2019 8:02:39 GMT -5 countryisking said:

By the title I was totally expecting a rehash of "Strip it Down" and "Light it Up" but thankfully I was wrong. I'm thrilled the production is pretty quiet and I don't find the snaps all that annoying. They almost sound like snare hits. It's not his best song but it's better than the two I mentioned above.

While I mostly agree, I could write a poem right now and make it sound better than those 2 songs

[recordyear]

Songwriters are Luke Bryan, Hillary Lindsey, Gordie Sampson and Jon Nite.
Producers are Jeff Stevens and Jody Stevens.
Impact date is April 8th.
www.nashcountrydaily.com/2019/03/29/luke-bryan-kicks-off-upcoming-seventh-studio-album-with-new-single-knockin-boots-listen/

[trustypepper]

This really reminds me of something Jon Pardi would record, and not just because of the boots theme.

Love it!

[seak05]

This song is now 4th overall on itunes. Not often you see so many country songs top 5 when an awards show isn't involved but also not often Luke and Blake release the same day. I feel as if that might have been a mistake, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't hate the song, it's pleasant, and miles better than light it up. I sort of feel as if this is the type of song that does really well in radio call out because nobody has strong feelings, but it'll be forgotten a year from now.

[liza]

The knockin' is obnoxious.

[carriekins]

This is so much better than his last few lead singles and reminds me so much of his early career that I am almost excited for new music from Luke.

[jimmy's carhartt]

Wow. I actually really like this. First offering from him I've liked in years. Don't get me wrong, the production is all off - the snaps aren't great, and my God could this song use a touch of fiddle to liven it up. But still, it's an earworm, and I'm liking it a lot, in spite of myself.

[trustypepper]

It’s pretty funny how both Blake and Luke release new lead singles on the same day (pretty rare for two major stars) and both of the singles are a change of pace for each artist. I couldn’t be more happy with the results.

[vann]

I agree it is better than other lead singles from Luke like Strip it Down/ Light it Up. I thought the song simple and ok although I liked it I hope it grows more on me.

[someguy]

I really like this. It sounds like Luke’s older material, but it isn’t that far removed from what is played on the radio today. I think he’s done a good job of staying current but also returning somewhat to his roots.

[seak05]

Mar 29, 2019 6:59:39 GMT -5 CoJoFan said:

Let the battle for the highest debut on Billboard begin. Will it be Luke or Blake???

I’m not sure luke had a full hourly iheart debut. I haven’t heard it on my iheart station yet today, nor any promo

[g8erboi]

It looks like Blake had the iHeart deal today, not Luke!

[sabre14]

Luke’s doesn’t impact officially until next Monday anyway. I’m not sure why both he and Blake dropped their singles the same day but UMG let Warner have the iHeart deal today.

[seak05]

Mar 29, 2019 20:27:14 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Luke’s doesn’t impact officially until next Monday anyway. I’m not sure why both he and Blake dropped their singles the same day but UMG let Warner have the iHeart deal today.

This release from Luke feels a little botched/rushed to me by his team. Since the impact date is the 8th why not wait till Tuesday or next Friday to release & have the day to yourself? Not that it actually will matter. Just seems odd.

[zaclord 🌈]

I really don't want to like this, but I really really do.

[seak05]

Mar 31, 2019 17:09:35 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

I really don't want to like this, but I really really do.

Wait, this one the lyrics don't bother you? Girls like you are meant for having sex with boys like me? Plus it's the Luke Bryan checklist: truck, small town, moon, girls, drink

[drock89]

The lyrics are atrocious. Did a fifth-grader write this?

[.indulgecountry]

I don't really care for this one and I'm surprised so many people seem to think this is much of a departure for him because it sounds like a typical Luke Bryan single to me? The production feels like he tried to make it sound country, but not very hard, so it gives off a contrived vibe for me personally (in the same way a song like "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)" 'sounded' country). It's a pretty standard song for him lyrically, too. I don't flat-out dislike it the way I do a lot of his singles, but it also doesn't land in my small pile of songs by him that I do love. It's somewhere comfortably in the meh region. I can tell Blake really tried to switch it up with "God's Country," but I don't get that with "Knockin' Boots."

[zaclord 🌈]

Mar 31, 2019 20:24:19 GMT -5 seak05 said:

Mar 31, 2019 17:09:35 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

I really don't want to like this, but I really really do.

Wait, this one the lyrics don't bother you? Girls like you are meant for having sex with boys like me? Plus it's the Luke Bryan checklist: truck, small town, moon, girls, drink

I never said the lyrics didn't bother me, and at first the lines about kissing and the whole premise of "knockin' boots" did come off as a little cringey and problematic. However, if you think about Luke singing this to his wife, and not from the perspective of a guy hitting on a random girl, then I don't find issue with the lyrics. I still don't think this song is anything to write home about lyrically (and I am SHOCKED Hillary Lindsey had any hand in this), but it is ridiculously catchy and makes me really like it despite the lyrics being nothing special.

[straitouttanashville]

Mar 31, 2019 20:30:37 GMT -5 drock89 said:

The lyrics are atrocious. Did a fifth-grader write this?

This is a terrible song in my opinion. No surprise on the lyrics either, most of Luke's work has lyrics at about a 5th grade level. Never understood what the big deal about Luke Bryan was anyway.

[collinkottke]

I like this one from Luke. It's going to be hard to not compare this to Blake's "God's Country" since they were released on the same day, so I don't like it as much as Blake's but I still really like what Luke did here. I don't think the knock/snap/snare is that annoying, especially after the first chorus it gets drowned out fairly well by the rest of the instrumentation. Plus, I like the sparseness of it. It doesn't really sound like anything else in Luke's discography off the top of my head, so bonus points for that.

Lyrically it's fine, I know some 5th graders and they wouldn't be able to write this. First off, it would be quite the rare 5th Grader to think up the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band reference. Also, way too much sexual innuendo for a 5th grader. I know our children are over sexualized but I hope they aren't that far down the path as a 10-year-old. I'll give you that the lyrics aren't overtly complex, but they are fine especially for a "list" song".

The marketing for this song is interesting to say the least. I think it was kinda supposed to be positioned as a surprise single from Luke despite him teasing it for a couple days leading up to the release of it. Still had a decent impact on release day only being behind fellow country songs (I say one song on this list fully tongue-in-cheek) "God's Country", "Shallow" and "Old Town Road" on iTunes. It has fallen back to #13 overall on iTunes a couple days later but still is the #3 song on the country iTunes chart behind Blake and "Beautiful Crazy". The release date oddness probably won't matter in the long run since he will have the chance to perform this on American Idol and he's still Luke Bryan so there's a 99% chance, even without marketing, any release of his would go a minimum of Top Five.

[CoJoFan]

Debuts at #48 on Country Airplay.