Forever After All

Album: What You See Ain't Always What You Get (2020)
Charted: 2
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Luke Combs first started dating Nicole Hocking in early 2016. They got engaged two years later and tied the knot during an intimate ceremony at their southern Florida beach home on August 1, 2020. He wrote this romantic song for Nicole after they bought their first house together in Tennessee. It tells a tale of a couple whose bond is so durable that even when "the new wears off," their relationship is just as strong.
  • Combs told Radio.com the song is a continuance of the love story between him and Nicole "that you hear in 'Beautiful Crazy' and 'Better Together.'"
  • Combs has form for making a list to illustrate a point. On "Lovin' On You," for instance, he outlines some of his favorite things before declaring that none of them give him the same rush as his lady.

    Here, in the first verse, he lists a cold beer, a truck, and Duracell batteries that only last so long. On the second verse Combs references "the FM station on the outskirts" and blue jeans used for shift work as two things that will fade after a while. However, there is one thing that will last forever: his love for Nicole.
  • Combs wrote the song in January 2019 with frequent collaborators Rob Williford and Drew Parker. It was the first song he wrote in his new Tennessee home.
  • The song debuted at #2 on the Hot 100, marking the highest entrance ever for a male country solo artist. Garth Brooks set the previous record when "Lost In You," his single recorded by alter ego Chris Gaines, debuted at #5 on the Hot 100 in 1999.
  • Drew Parker and Rob Williford have been two of Luke Combs' closest friends since the mid-2010s, so when they sat down to write a song for the first time in the couple's home together, they knew what he wanted to say.

    "I think there was something special in that moment of it being the first song in their house together, and we kind of just started chasing a love song, and it really took on its own thing," Parker told The Boot. "It was like, 'Hey, I think this is something important to say in a time like this - I mean, we just bought a house together,' that kind of thing. And at that point, it's like, "Hey, let me just step out of the way and watch where he's wanting to go with this and be there to support wherever that song goes."
  • The video features footage from Luke Combs and Nicole Hocking's actual wedding. He's not the first to put his real-life nuptials into a music video: Chris Lane did it with "Big, Big Plans."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Francis Rossi of Status Quo

Francis Rossi of Status QuoSongwriter Interviews

Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.