Luke Combs - "Growin' Up"

[.indulgecountry]

Luke Combs' third studio album, Growin' Up, is out now:

[ethanhunt]

Not gonna lie, thought this record was straight garbage. I thought the first Luke Combs was a pleasant surprise that I had gone into with low expectations but some of the funny songs caught me off guard and were a pleasant surprise. But I think his songwriting just continually gets more boring and is so lacking in detail or any personal flavor.

[3chords]

I kind of agree 😬 mostly because a lot of the songs remind me of other songs that are better. Like Middle of Somewhere reminds me of Flyover States, On The Other Line is a less amusing Im Gonna Miss Her, Used to Wish I was reminds me of Eric’s What I Almost Was, Any Given Friday Night - Small Town Saturday Night. Anyways, it was lacking originality for me. Not like that will make a difference with his success.

[ethanhunt]

Jun 24, 2022 0:02:18 GMT -5 3chords said:

I kind of agree 😬 mostly because a lot of the songs remind me of other songs that are better. Like Middle of Somewhere reminds me of Flyover States, On The Other Line is a less amusing Im Gonna Miss Her, Used to Wish I was reminds me of Eric’s What I Almost Was, Any Given Friday Night - Small Town Saturday Night. Anyways, it was lacking originality for me. Not like that will make a difference with his success.

Yeah, felt just like a guy writing songs about things that people in country music are supposed to write songs about as opposed to someone crafting a personal project

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Underwhelming. I don't dislike the record, but it does not help me re-like his materials as much as I used to after feeling fed up with some of his boring single choices. I just wish he had more songs with either catchier/stronger melodies or clever/unique lyrics.

"Going Going Gone," "Call Me," and "Used To Wish I Was" were pretty good, I may add them into my playlist, but I still cannot say I fell in love with them instantly. Any other uptempo songs in the record sound like inferior versions of "1, 2 Many," and "Any Given Friday Night" was the unfortunate twin of "Cold As You." "Better Back When" has a decent melody, but also feels very weak, which could be said to most of the songs here, knowing his other materials. 

"The Kind Of Love We Make" was definitely a solid single choice in this record. I feel like he may follow up with Tomorrow Me, which has a good lyrics, but melodically sound like the 8th child born between Forever After All and Better Together.

[dm2081]

He needs to start saving some of these re-release Deluxe Edition tracks for his next albums, because they’re outshining his albums. There’s some good songs here but overall does feel low effort, especially compared to Morgan Wallen right now, who he compared himself to. I can’t imagine we get more than 2 more singles from this one before we get a “deluxe edition” with some better songs.

[ericNY2002]

My feelings are similar to countrylinedancer, as I don’t dislike the album, but it’s probably not one that I will go back and re listen to much. As for future singles, my predictions would be “Middle of Somewhere” and possibly “Outrunning Your Memory”. Like dm2081 said, there probably will be a deluxe version out with other single choices eventually after 1 or 2 more singles.

[recordyear]

He explicitly states there will be no deluxe version of this album.
www.billboard.com/music/country/luke-combs-interview-new-album-growin-up-1235104752/

Probably because he is actually making a separate double album like Jason Aldean and Eric church, as he has an unreleased song called Growin' Up and Gettin' Old.

[gardyfan]

Jun 24, 2022 8:57:35 GMT -5 recordyear said:

He explicitly states there will be no deluxe version of this album.
www.billboard.com/music/country/luke-combs-interview-new-album-growin-up-1235104752/

Probably because he is actually making a separate double album like Jason Aldean and Eric church, as he has an unreleased song called Growin' Up and Gettin' Old.

He already has another album done. Can't remember the song last year but i think it;s a bluegrass album. But he did say it would be out after the next one, which is the one released today.

[Music Fan]

I agree with everything that has been said.

I feel like he hasn't evolved as an artist and has just gotten bland. I knew I liked a lot of his music, but I didn't realize how much he hasn't evolved until a saw him at Stagecoach this year. I was surprised that I didn't enjoy his performance that much (although that was the day after Carrie, so that may have had an effect.)

[HeyHeyHey]

I think this album is fantastic! “On The Other Line”, “Better Back When”, “The Kind Of Love We Make”, and the Miranda collaboration are my favorite songs from the album so far. I’ll be listening to it a lot this summer (and for years to come I’m sure).

[Crimsonio]

Please make the Miranda song a single so she can get another #1

[recordyear]

3.5/5 from AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com/album/growin-up-mw0003708458

[phil1996]

I like Luke, but what a boring album. Nothing interesting or even clever at all. Everything sounds the same. Big step down

[.indulgecountry]

I echo a lot of the sentiments here. I gave the full album 2 listens and very few songs stuck with me and the whole project on the whole felt pretty limp for something coming from someone with Luke Combs' level of star power and clout. He could literally be releasing the best of the best songs, but instead he's fallen into a predictable rut that a lot of A-list male country stars always seem to fall into. He was fresh when he came on the scene and has a great voice, but there's been basically no artistic growth from 2015 at all... probably even regression since he had several songs on his debut that put this entire set of songs to shame.

That said, I do LOVE his newest single and the Miranda Lambert song is admittedly great, but putting MirLam on a song almost certainly guarantees that. I'm definitely rooting for that one to be a single and score her another big career hit. I'll need to revisit the album some more to see if there are any other standouts, but so far it's mainly those 2 that are sticking with me.

[recordyear]

Reposted from current singles thread for completeness:
65-75k SPS first week.

Are there any supply issues for this album?

[3chords]

I saw about 5 CDs out at my Target, but didn’t see vinyl.
Also got a 3.5 from Rolling Stone.

[recordyear]

Newest HDD prediction is 30k pure sales and 81k SPS. #2 overall.

[recordyear]

Debut at #2 in Australia and #9 in UK.

[onebuffalo]

#1 country, #2 top 200 album with 74,000 SPS. Congratulations, Luke Combs.

[HeyHeyHey]

One thing about Luke is his phone is always ringing/he is always making phone calls. “Tomorrow Me”, “On The Other Line”, and “Call Me” all mention a phone call. Heck, he was “One Number Away” from making a phone call a few years back and he was caller #5 on a radio station in “When It Rains It Pours”.

[bboat11]

Jul 28, 2022 9:53:46 GMT -5 HeyHeyHey said:

One thing about Luke is his phone is always ringing/he is always making phone calls. “Tomorrow Me”, “On The Other Line”, and “Call Me” all mention a phone call. Heck, he was “One Number Away” from making a phone call a few years back and he was caller #5 on a radio station in “When It Rains It Pours”.

Maybe that's why his music is getting stale. Taken collectively, it is no longer believable. Ain't NOBODY his age or younger making/receiving phone calls to the extent that he makes it seem!!  His core audience can no longer identify with him!!