Luke Combs - “Beautiful Crazy”

[carriekins]

Apr 11, 2019 20:56:56 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Apr 11, 2019 20:48:38 GMT -5 Wackadoodle said:

I feel there’s been a huge drop in lyrical quality in this time span. Melody and vocals are going to depend on what your ear prefers, but these lyrics are weak. For a song to get seven weeks at #1, it should be held to the “Live Like You Were Dying” standard. I feel like our standards have gone way down since that song for a song as boring and ulcerative as this to get seven weeks at number one.

"Live Like You Were Dying" is above average at best and has been overplayed to death. "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" lasted even longer at #1 and it's probably one of my least favorite major hits ever. I'd easily take "Beautiful Crazy" over both, and it's still easily my least-favorite Luke Combs singles so far, lol. I definitely don't think it's low quality in any way though, just not as personally interesting to me compared to his other singles. But it's absolutely dominated every outlet it could (sales, streams, airplay), so obviously a lot of people do think its high quality.

Yes. All of this.

[Kanenrá:ke]

Apr 12, 2019 3:58:36 GMT -5 Wackadoodle said:

Now that I'm at my computer and the words can flow more freely, what I wanted to say was that the #1 song is also a reflection on all the other songs, since that's the best of what's out at any given time. I was trying to compare the two situations. Back when "Live Like You Were Dying" got 7 weeks at #1, the top 5 included Kenny Chesney's "I Go Back," Reba McEntire's "Somebody," Brad Paisley's "Whiskey Lullabye," and Billy Currington's "I Got A Feeling." Maybe it's just nostalgia for me, which would be ironic because I was like ten years old and didn't listen to country radio at the time, but it feels like we've gotten so far off track that now a song that sort of just says the same generic message about adoring women that a bunch of songs do, without really adding any sort of creative or colorful spin to it, can be a seven-week #1. And of course, like I said, the #1 song also makes a statement about the rest of the material at radio at any given time. Now we have songs like "What Makes You Country," "Take It from Me," "Millionaire," and "One That Got Away." The lyrics just aren't anywhere near as creative. Maybe what I'm trying to get at is that there's a lack of spirit being put into songs these days. It just feels like we keep getting the same cliches and platitudes over and over again.

Lyrical quality has definitely dropped over the years (though I feel it’s going back in the right direction), but the number one at any given time does not mean it’s the best of what’s out right now. Just means that it’s what radio is playing the most right now. That’s literally all a #1 represents.

[onebuffalo]

Billboard's in my good graces now. They must have heard me from last week. They remembered Amazed:

LUCKY SEVEN Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” (River House/Columbia Nashville) rules Country Airplay for a seventh week (38.6 million, down 4%).
“Crazy” is now tied for the second-longest rule in the history of Country Airplay, which launched in 1990. It matches Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” (2004), Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life” (2003-04), Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?” (2003) and Chesney’s “The Good Stuff” (2002).
Only one week stands between Combs’ fifth leader and the two longest-leading No. 1s, both with eight frames in the penthouse: Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003) and Lonestar’s “Amazed” (1999).

[phil1996]

Apr 11, 2019 21:20:05 GMT -5 Wackadoodle said:

I guess my point is, the last time a song got seven weeks at #1, it was inspiring and almost philosophical. Now a song with much simpler lyrics can get that same acknowledgement. But like .indulgecountry said there’s really not a particular pattern here. A simple drinking song got eight weeks at number one. All this to say, I’m frustrated with Luke Combs and country radio in general lately.

I agree with all of your points. I like Luke Combs but this is just a simple cheesy love song. Simple cheesy love songs are what today’s yourh eats up. (I’m 23 for anyone who wants to call me a grumpy old man)

I’m not a huge Mcgraw fan but SHAME on anyone who says Live Like You Were Dying is average. That song is one of the best tunes ever written. In any genre

[countryisking]

While I love this song, love Luke Combs, and love everything that country radio plays that is along the lines of actually being country, you can't argue that most male songs these days are about girls.

All 5 of Luke's singles have been about a female or a relationship (past or present). 4 of 5 of Jon Pardi's singles have been about the same thing. Look at the current chart and count how many are about that. While these songs are surely more country than radio sounded 5 years ago, the lyrical depth has yet to catch back up. Even just singing about ANYTHING besides a female or a relationship isn't really that common.

Think about some of the non-female topic hits in the past 15 years that are still played: "Live Like You Were Dying," "If You're Going Through Hell," "Rain is a Good Thing," "Ol' Red," "What I Love About Sunday," "Free and Easy Down The Road," "Mayberry," "American Honey," "If I Die Young," "Troubadour," "Beer in Mexico," "Don't Blink," "As Good as I Once Was," "Water," "Hicktown," etc. You can go on and on. Sure there were always female-driven songs but good luck naming a lot of big hits from today's radio that are about something different.

[phil1996]

Apr 12, 2019 11:02:57 GMT -5 countryisking said:

While I love this song, love Luke Combs, and love everything that country radio plays that is along the lines of actually being country, you can't argue that most male songs these days are about girls.

All 5 of Luke's singles have been about a female or a relationship (past or present). 4 of 5 of Jon Pardi's singles have been about the same thing. Look at the current chart and count how many are about that. While these songs are surely more country than radio sounded 5 years ago, the lyrical depth has yet to catch back up. Even just singing about ANYTHING besides a female or a relationship isn't really that common.

Think about some of the non-female topic hits in the past 15 years that are still played: "Live Like You Were Dying," "If You're Going Through Hell," "Rain is a Good Thing," "Ol' Red," "What I Love About Sunday," "Free and Easy Down The Road," "Mayberry," "American Honey," "If I Die Young," "Troubadour," "Beer in Mexico," "Don't Blink," "As Good as I Once Was," "Water," "Hicktown," etc. You can go on and on. Sure there were always female-driven songs but good luck naming a lot of big hits from today's radio that are about something different.

This post is exactly why Eric Church will have the longest lasting career among his era of artists.

[.indulgecountry]

Apr 12, 2019 9:51:00 GMT -5 phil1996 said:

Apr 11, 2019 21:20:05 GMT -5 Wackadoodle said:

I guess my point is, the last time a song got seven weeks at #1, it was inspiring and almost philosophical. Now a song with much simpler lyrics can get that same acknowledgement. But like .indulgecountry said there’s really not a particular pattern here. A simple drinking song got eight weeks at number one. All this to say, I’m frustrated with Luke Combs and country radio in general lately.

I agree with all of your points. I like Luke Combs but this is just a simple cheesy love song. Simple cheesy love songs are what today’s yourh eats up. (I’m 23 for anyone who wants to call me a grumpy old man)

I’m not a huge Mcgraw fan but SHAME on anyone who says Live Like You Were Dying is average. That song is one of the best tunes ever written. In any genre

Simple cheesy love songs are what every era's youth eats up. It's nothing new. Today it might be Dan + Shay and Luke Combs songs, but once upon a time it was Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Lonestar, Taylor Swift, etc.

And lol @ the last part. No shame here at all. It's an okay song, but certainly far from his best work and has been massively overplayed to the point where I can just barely tolerate it one out of every dozen times I come across it. I realize it was compared to "Beautiful Crazy" because it's the last song to spend that many weeks at #1, but I definitely don't see a huge drop-off in quality represented by comparing the two. I'd say in the years since then that mainstream country hits have had a downhill slide in overall quality, but singling out "Beautiful Crazy" as a representation of that slide feels misplaced. Luke Combs is one of the few new male artists churning out genuinely good country music these days, lol.

[countryisking]

Further examination of today's rolling MB top 50 shows only the following songs to be NOT about a significant other or past relationship: "Make it Sweet," "Love Wins," "Girl," "Every Little Honkytonk Bar," "Some of It," "Caught Up in the Country,", "Buy My Own Drinks," "Raised on Country," "God's Country," "Feels Like a Party," "Down to the Honkytonk," "Rearview Town," "Rainbow," "Somebody's Daughter," "The Ones That Didn't Make it Back Home," "Ladies in the 90s," "Nothing to do Town," "Living", "Good Vibes," "Rednecker," "Girl Goin' Nowhere."

That means 29 of 50 (60%) current songs are about a significant other or relationship.

Other takeaways...the girls are clearly a lot less guilty of writing about this topic as only 2 female songs are about this topic while 7 are not (22% vs 66% for guys).

Also, maybe the tides are shifting because 14 of the 21 songs on the list above are (subjectively) newer to the chart.

[collinkottke]

Apr 12, 2019 11:59:06 GMT -5 countryisking said:

Further examination of today's rolling MB top 50 shows only the following songs to be NOT about a significant other or past relationship: "Make it Sweet," "Love Wins," "Girl," "Every Little Honkytonk Bar," "Some of It," "Caught Up in the Country,", "Buy My Own Drinks," "Raised on Country," "God's Country," "Feels Like a Party," "Down to the Honkytonk," "Rearview Town," "Rainbow," "Somebody's Daughter," "The Ones That Didn't Make it Back Home," "Ladies in the 90s," "Nothing to do Town," "Living", "Good Vibes," "Rednecker," "Girl Goin' Nowhere."

That means 29 of 50 (60%) current songs are about a significant other or relationship.

Other takeaways...the girls are clearly a lot less guilty of writing about this topic as only 2 female songs are about this topic while 7 are not (22% vs 66% for guys).

Also, maybe the tides are shifting because 14 of the 21 songs on the list above are (subjectively) newer to the chart.

I would classify "Make It Sweet" as a song about a significant other. The narrator in the song is addressing who one can assume is the narrator's significant other the entire song.

"Rearview Town" probably could classify as it too. The song is about a rearview town, but the reason he is leaving it behind is because of a past relationship.

[Naos]

New peak of #21 on the Hot 100.

[collinkottke]

The debate that rages is will it be brand new music or another single off of Here's To You (Too)... I'd say the betting odds just changed to another single from Here's To You with Luke's latest post on Facebook which are lyrics to his song "Must've Never Met You". Now it could all be just a diversion or completely random, but when you're this hot right now is anything done just cause... 

[dm2081]

“Must’ve Never Met You” would probably be one of the biggest hits of the year honestly, so I wouldn’t mind that getting a single release. The quality of the re-release songs last summer was so good that I’m still not burnt out on them yet.

[jimmy's carhartt]

Apr 12, 2019 9:51:00 GMT -5 phil1996 said:

Apr 11, 2019 21:20:05 GMT -5 Wackadoodle said:

I guess my point is, the last time a song got seven weeks at #1, it was inspiring and almost philosophical. Now a song with much simpler lyrics can get that same acknowledgement. But like .indulgecountry said there’s really not a particular pattern here. A simple drinking song got eight weeks at number one. All this to say, I’m frustrated with Luke Combs and country radio in general lately.

I agree with all of your points. I like Luke Combs but this is just a simple cheesy love song. Simple cheesy love songs are what today’s yourh eats up. (I’m 23 for anyone who wants to call me a grumpy old man)

I’m not a huge Mcgraw fan but SHAME on anyone who says Live Like You Were Dying is average. That song is one of the best tunes ever written. In any genre

The youth has probably always had a proclivity for love songs, but today's popular culture is so devoid of depth and meaning that it makes "Beautiful Crazy" sound like Johnny Cash singing "Rose Of My Heart". (And I'm 25 for anyone who wants to level the old man accusation).

[sabre14]

"Must've Never Met You" and "Houston, We Got a Problem" both sound like massive hits to me. Either would reach #1 for Combs at the moment. A lead single, along the same lines musically as his first album, would also yield great success at radio. It's a extremely rare instance of a label being able to have the freedom to do whatever they feel like and it'll hit.

[mellongraig]

Given the huge stay at #1 for 7 weeks I have to wonder if and I know it is early, but maybe it could be the #1 song for 2019 or at least a serious candidate there (and even also on Mediabase as well although for 4 weeks at #1). We'll have to wait and see...

[onebuffalo]

Apr 17, 2019 11:14:01 GMT -5 mellongraig said:

Given the huge stay at #1 for 7 weeks I have to wonder if and I know it is early, but maybe it could be the #1 song for 2019 or at least a serious candidate there (and even also on Mediabase as well although for 4 weeks at #1). We'll have to wait and see...

Why not? Die A Happy Man was the biggest hit of 2016 and it was tops during the first six weeks of the year.

[CoJoFan]

Apr 17, 2019 13:04:32 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

Apr 17, 2019 11:14:01 GMT -5 mellongraig said:

Given the huge stay at #1 for 7 weeks I have to wonder if and I know it is early, but maybe it could be the #1 song for 2019 or at least a serious candidate there (and even also on Mediabase as well although for 4 weeks at #1). We'll have to wait and see...

Why not? Die A Happy Man was the biggest hit of 2016 and it was tops during the first six weeks of the year.

If you go by how Joel Whitburn ranks the songs this will not only be the #1 song of 2019 but the #1 song of the decade.

[dajross6]

It will undoubtedly be #1 on Mediabase since they add in recurrent airplay as well. I have a hard time believing there's another song that would have a shot at it even if it spent 10 weeks at #1 this summer based on lost weekly spins. I think you can pencil it in there.

[seak05]

I think it will depend on how you define biggest