We all have bad days at work, but spare a thought for The Voice producer who decided to reject Luke Combs.
The North Carolina native is one of the biggest names in contemporary country music, a two-time Grammy Award winner who sells out arenas within hours. But a few years ago, Combs was just another doe-eyed hopeful looking to make his mark when The Voice came knocking.
Despite making it through the first few rounds of auditions, producers ultimately decided he didn’t have what they were looking for.
Combs has just released his fourth studio album Gettin’ Old, a companion record to his 2022 album, Growin’ Up. Growin’ Up peaked at number two on the ARIA charts in Australia.Credit:SONY
“The letter that I got in the mail was essentially like, ‘Hey man, you have a really great voice, and you made it this far; better luck next time’,” recalls Combs. “That experience was probably good for me though, because if I had been on the show, I would have had a completely different trajectory, don’t you think?”
It’s a question that doesn’t really need answering, given his trajectory has been nothing short of dizzying. I’m speaking with Combs from his office in Nashville, as he’s gearing up to release his new album, Gettin’ Old, a companion record to his 2022 album, Growin’ Up, as well as his upcoming world tour – but he’s already so popular that he doesn’t really need to bother with media.
When tickets to his tour, which will see him play across three continents and 16 countries, went on sale last year, Combs sold out 37 of the 39 shows almost instantly. In Australia alone, he sold an astounding 90,000 tickets within a couple of hours, sending Ticketek into a meltdown.
It’s quite the journey considering it was only in 2011 that a 21-year-old Combs fished a guitar out of his closet and started messing around.
Three years later, he moved to Nashville, the mecca of country music, and three years after that, in 2017, Combs’ song Hurricane, a catchy country ballad that plays like a pop song, caught the attention of Columbia Records. They signed him on the spot, re-released the record, and Hurricane became the first of his 14 country radio hits.
Since the release of Hurricane, Combs, 33, has steadily established himself as something of a unicorn in the industry: a bona fide country music star with mainstream appeal. In 2019 his second album, What You See Is What You Get debuted at number one on the general Billboard charts, notching up the most single-week streams for a country album in US chart history.
It’s no small achievement considering country is a genre that usually exists in a kind of vacuum; there are music fans, and there are country music fans.
After being rejected by The Voice, Combs set about taking Nashville, and the world, by storm.
“There are many people who won’t listen to something if it’s country; they hear the start of it and switch it off,” says Combs. Plenty of country artists have looked to counter that sentiment by teaming up with a pop star to try and win over a new audience. Think Tim McGraw and Nelly, Keith Urban and Pitbull, or Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake. Taylor Swift got her start in country, but it was her pivot to pop that cemented her status as one of the most popular and successful artists of all time.
But despite being a self-confessed Adele lover (“She’s incredible man, I love her”), Combs isn’t interested in shortcuts, nor does he need them.
“I’m not necessarily against it, but it seems like a lot of those [collaborations] are done to gain popularity,” he says. “I wouldn’t do it just to tap into a new audience, it would still have to feel like I was in my lane.”
Instead, he is bridging that gap by writing songs that are catchy, slick and, above all, relatable.
Combs is the first person to admit that he isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel when it comes to country music. His back catalogue is full of songs about drinking (Beer Never Broke My Heart), heartbreak (Outrunnin’ Your Memory) and good times (1, 2 Many).
What seems to set Combs apart is an air of authenticity. With his burly build and trademark trucker cap, he is the everyman singing about everyday things.
“Country music can get repetitive if you let it, but I try not to think about the ‘themes’ too much when I’m writing and instead think about what I’m feeling,” says Combs.
Last year Combs was named the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the Year for the second year running, a title once held by another country music star with pop sensibilities: Taylor Swift.
“I believe that great music is great music, so I just try to write songs that I love and that I think people will enjoy, and I’m lucky that some people who traditionally would not have listened to my music seem to like it.”
With a sold-out tour on the horizon and fans eagerly awaiting his new record, it’s safe to say Luke Combs star has definitely arrived.
If only someone had told the team at The Voice.
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