Luke Combs Reveals Unexpected Influence
(KC) Luke Combs is the latest guest to take on the wings of death on this week's episode of Hot Ones. He discusses learning to sing from listening to the Backstreet Boys, this being the biggest moment country music has ever had, getting rejected on The Voice, spending his last $200 to master his debut single "Hurricane," and social media possibly preventing the next Bob Dylan.
On learning to sing from listening to the Backstreet Boys (3:10): "I mean obviously there's five different singers in the group, right? And they all kind of get turns to showcase their particular style. And everybody's kind of got different ranges and different natural tendencies that they try to use. And they're incredibly singable verses and choruses. Those songs were engineered to be like musical drugs. Like you hear them and it's just like I want to hear this again. I need to hear this again. And you know as you kind of study those things, learning to write songs, you realize that was done intentionally. Like there is a science to writing those kind of songs. And there needs to be a hook every 20 seconds that people remember and moments that people want to come back to. And you learn that. You also learn how to do the same chorus melody, maybe in a different style. Because if Nick Carter is singing it, and, you know, Kevin's singing the next one, it's like they just have these little differences and inflections that ultimately matter and lead to the success of a group like that and help a young singer who's learning to find their voice and hone their talent, it helps them learn five different things at one time instead of hearing one singer do something. You get to hear five singers sing the same chorus instead of one. So, it's really interesting."
On spending his last $200 to master his debut single "Hurricane" (5:07): "Interestingly and luckily enough, it was the only song that was in any state close enough to putting out. So, it was basically a hail mary of like well this is all we got. It's either this or nothing. So I spent the last $200 I had. I hadn't done that previously so I hadn't put that in my budget as an expense that I needed to be aware of. And it comes down and I'm like dude I don't have enough money to master these. Like which one is good enough? And he's like this one. And I'm like perfect, let's do it. Put it out. It sells 10,000 units the first week. Which I thought was like cool, that's probably what everyone's doing. Or that's less than everyone's doing. Because again I don't know. And it turns out apparently it wasn't what everyone was doing and it was a lot more for an independent kid who's dropped out of college to move to town and doesn't have anything going on. And that's kind of what led to 100 other dominoes falling in my favor so I'm very thankful for that moment and obviously it was supposed to work out that way."
On this being the biggest moment country music has ever had (6:59):
"There's a huge contingency of people, I'm probably guilty of it at some time as well, but going that's not country, or this is too country, or that's this or whatever. It's like, I think county music is enjoying a moment of relevancy that it maybe has never had, you know, outside of that early 90s era, the Shania Twain, Garth, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, like Brooks & Dunn. That was a huge moment too. But I feel like we've crossed over like into the pop culture zeitgeist. And there's three country artists selling out multiple nights at stadiums right now. That's as many as have ever done it in the history of country music and it's all happening at the same time. So that's really cool to me to feel like I'm a part of. I think that conversation is maybe a little unwarranted but I think ultimately it benefits the genre."
On social media possibly preventing the next Bob Dylan (10:18): "I think in today's social media age, people's careers take off faster and faster. I don't think that's all bad, but you welcome in the criticisms of the world. And if you're a 14-year-old kid, and people online are going hey man, you're ass, don't play this anymore, don't ever do this, well does that stop the next Bob Dylan from writing songs? Like that would be devastating to find out that some kid who's inherently talented and just hasn't had enough time yet is exposed to the cruelty of the world or the internet or people's opinions. And so that I feel like is the big downside of not going and just playing those little shows and figuring yourself out on this stage that's like it's ok to fail. Or feel like it's ok to fail. It's still ok to fail. But now you just have to fail in front of millions of people potentially instead of failing in your butt dive bar in your hometown where there's 10 people and it's not a big deal, you know? So, it's an interesting time."
On getting rejected on The Voice (17:32): "That situation gave me so much confidence. Because I'm like ok, if I'm taking this at face value, which I did, it could have very easily been like well we can't tell this guy he's a terrible singer. Just tell him he's not interesting. Maybe that will make him less sad, you know? Which it did. It worked by the way. So I'm like so you're saying I'm a good singer, is what you're saying. You're saying I'm good. All I was looking for at that time was some sort of validation like hey I'm an above average singer. I feel that way in my soul. So that was a big moment for me. I'm really honestly thankful for that experience."
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