Hello, everybody. Today I am reviewing an album that was released back in June of this year, Luke Combs’ third studio album, Growin’ Up. Thank you to my cousin, Ali, for recommending this review!

As of right now, this is the only Luke Combs album I’ve ever listened to. I already knew a few of his songs, but I wasn’t super familiar with his music.

And now that I’ve given this album multiple listens … I’m just going to be totally honest and say that this didn’t really click for me. And part of this is that I’m not a big fan of country music in general, but there is some country that I absolutely love … this just didn’t do much for me, though.

The album opens with the song, “Doin’ This”, which features an instrumental that I don’t really like that much, but I do like the lyrics about Luke Combs being asked what he’d do if he weren’t a famous musician … and he’d still be a musician. In the chorus he sings, ‘At the Grand Ole Opry or a show in some no-name town, I’d still be doin’ this if I weren’t doin’ this.’

Next is the song, “Any Given Friday Night”, which sounds to me kind of like a parody of country music someone who doesn’t like country music would make. It’s far from the worst country song I’ve ever heard, but I still don’t like it.

But while I’m not a big fan of either of the first two tracks, I like them both quite a bit more than the third track, “The Kind of Love We Make”, which has super cheesy lyrics, and even aside from that, this just sounds to me like a generic country track without much musically that stands out to me.

Speaking of songs I really don’t like, “On the Other Line” opens with some guitars that are really annoying in my opinion, and from that point on it feels like it doesn’t really go anywhere, at least to me.

Right after that is a collaboration with Miranda Lambert called “Outrunnin’ Your Memory”, which features some good melodies both vocally and instrumentally. It’s closer to clicking for me than the last few songs before it, but the production holds it back for me. I don’t like how much reverb there is on the snare (at least it sounds like there’s quite a bit). Also, something about the way the vocals are produced doesn’t work for me, but it’s hard for me to describe what.

“Used To Wish I Was” features some interesting lyrics where Luke describes different ways his life could have gone, and how he used to wish things turned out differently, but now he’s happy with how things turned out. And while I like the lyrical theme, overall the song just isn’t for me. Once again, there’s just so little in the instrumentation that I find interesting.

After a few more tracks, we finally get to the last two songs, which are also my two favourites. “Middle of Somewhere”, the second-to-last track on this album, features lyrics about a small town, and I love the line, ‘So just remember when you’re driving through nowhere, to us that’s the middle of somewhere.’ And I also like the tight production on this track.

The album closes with another really well-produced track, “Going, Going, Gone”, which also features some great vocal melodies in my opinion, and if I had to pick a favourite song on the album, it’s probably this one.

But still, as a whole, this album mostly bored me. It’s got its moments in my opinion, but overall, I’m going to give this album a 4/10. It’s interesting, and I get the appeal, but it’s not for me.

But, as always, this is just how I felt about the album. Feel free to let me know how you feel about the album and/or what you thought of this review. I’m still pretty new to reviewing music, and I’d like to improve my reviews. My apologies if these reviews aren’t very good, but I’ll try to make them better.

Also, I know I didn’t say a ton about this album … and there’s more I could have written, but I decided to keep it somewhat brief … there are quite a few things I noticed lyrically (some which I liked, some which I didn’t) I either didn’t mention or mentioned briefly, but I’m not very good at analyzing and writing about lyrics (I’m sure I’ll get to a point eventually where I’m good at it), and musically, this album didn’t give me a lot to say. Also, I skipped talking about a few songs, because I had a hard time describing how I felt about them with words. Maybe someday I’ll do a throwback review of this album and review it better. But for now, I’ll be back with more posts soon. Thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Middle of Somewhere”, “Going, Going, Gone”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Kind of Love We Make”, “On the Other Line”, “Better Back When”