Was Sam Hunt Poised to Have the Success of Morgan Wallen

[Music Fan]

So, I vaguely remember when Montevallo came out and Sam Hunt was having hit after hit, that I thought he would become the IT country star of the next 10 years. Was I imagining that? If not, what happened down the road, that prevented that? Sure, he's had hits after including Body Like a Back Road that was huge ... but I thought he'd have the success that we now see with Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen.

[tbc0731]

He definitely went away for a little too long between his debut even with the massive success of BLABR. Also, I feel like he was ironically ahead of his time. Wallen's newest songs "Last Night" and "I Wrote The Book" scream Sam Hunt to me, yet he seems easier for listeners to buy into than Hunt. He's still super successful and probably is happy with what he's accomplished up to this point, but also interesting to analyze.

[theyaintready]

I feel like he willingly took a step back and was a bit overwhelmed by the first album's success.

[Troublemaker]

Around the time he released BLABR, he wanted to only release singles (and this rubbed people the wrong way) besides almost everything after that was not a good as the previous single. So much so that when he announced his album before the start of the pandemic, most people already moved on from him.

[loveofmusic]

From what I remember, he said he was overwhelmed by his success & needed to take some time off.

[.indulgecountry]

Yeah, I agree with the general consensus. He could've had the kind of success of Luke Combs or Morgan Wallen, but he just didn't want it. And that's fine, not every star is prepared for that kind of career, and his debut album set him up to where he can coast and be quite successful for many years, while also not requiring him to fight hard to maintain that top-tier status. He's settled into a good spot, and I think he's happy with it.

[zdm1998]

Yeah he could have been right there with Luke and Morgan if he wanted to, but he’s much more introverted and doesn’t care about the fame. I honestly think he could completely walk away from music and be content with it.

While he’s not a huge star like he could have been, like indulge said, he’s at a comfortable part of his career where I think he can release songs and consistently see relatively good success with them, even if they are not smash blockbuster hits.

[someguy]

I think he would have/could have had that type of career, but there were a few factors at play that prevented that. As previously mentioned, his long break away after Montevallo certainly cooled his momentum. Also, as mentioned, I believe he really didn't want the type of fame/attention that his initial level of success brought with it.

In addition, I think his DUI hurt him a bit as well.

That being said, he is still very successful, and I think that most artists would strive to reach the level of success that he has achieved.