A bit of a full circle moment.
After what felt like months upon months of anticipation and speculation, last week, Luke Combs announced his sixth studio album The Way I Am, which is set for release on March 30th. Produced by Combs, Jonathan Singleton and Chip Matthews, the record will feature a whopping 22 songs, and he says he’s very proud of the album:
“It’s been a long process getting this thing going, but I’m really proud of this record. I’ve loved the song ‘Sleepless in a Hotel Room’ for a long time and it’s been awesome to see how excited the fans are for that one as well.”
Combs has already released quite a bit of new music from the project, including the likes of “Giving Her Away,” “Back in the Saddle,” “My Kinda Saturday Night” and “Days Like These,” which is his current single that’s sitting at #18 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Given how long the North Carolina native has been teasing new music, starting all the way back in August, fans have been waiting on the official announcement for a while now.
Upon the announcement of the album, Combs would surprise-drop his long-awaited, fan-favorite track, “Sleepless in a Hotel Room,” which has already garnered over 7.3 million streams on Spotify alone in just a week. Thanks to the early love shown by fans, it debuted this week at #35 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, marking the “Hurricane” singer’s 72nd song to debut on the chart.
As previously mentioned, the release of “Sleepless in a Hotel Room” has been a LONG time coming. If you recall, back in 2020, Combs would take to Facebook to tease a brand new track, “Sleepless in a Hotel Room,” which was written with frequent collaborators, Jonathan Singleton and Randy Montana, and was actually penned before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the country down.
“Trying to take a nap before my Billboard Music Awards performance tonight and I couldn’t sleep. It reminded me of this song I wrote a few months ago right before everything shutdown. Had this idea one night when I was missing Nicole Hocking, like I am right now. Hope y’all dig this preview of it. Wrote it with Jonathan Singleton and Randy Montana. Hope to see y’all on the TV tonight.”
Flashforward to yesterday, after the release and early success of the track, Combs took to Instagram to share an acoustic version of “Sleepless in a Hotel Room” — once again in a hotel room in Los Angeles. In the caption, he’d note the full-circle nature of the reel.
“Back in LA where it all started for this song 5 years ago. Only felt right to do a full video of ‘Sleepless’ this go round from my hotel room.”
Though the studio version is nothing short of a heater that’s bound to find success on the radio and play incredibly well at his stadium shows, I can’t help but prefer the raw, uncut nature of the acoustic version. Either way, it’s clear that Combs has a big ‘ol hit on his hands once again with “Sleepless in a Hotel Room.”
Before you go, fire up the new studio version.
My Kinda Saturday Night Tour Dates
March 21 Allegiant Stadium – Las Vegas, NV
April 4 Scott Stadium – Charlottesville, VA
April 11 Jack Trice Stadium – Ames, IA
April 18 Notre Dame Stadium – South Bend, IN
April 25 Ohio Stadium – Columbus, OH
May 2 Neyland Stadium – Knoxville, TN
May 9 Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium – Norman, OK
May 15 Lambeau Field – Green Bay, WI
May 16 Lambeau Field – Green Bay, WI
May 30 Parc Jean-Drapeau – Montreal, QC
June 5 Rogers Stadium – Toronto, ON
June 6 Rogers Stadium – Toronto, ON
July 4 Ullevi – Gothenburg, Sweden
July 7 Accor Arena – Paris, France
July 11 Johan Cruijff ArenA – Amsterdam, Netherlands
July 18 Slane Castle – Slane, Ireland
July 19 Slane Castle – Slane, Ireland
July 25 Scottish Gas Murrayfield – Edinburgh, UK
July 31 Wembley Stadium – London, UK
August 1 Wembley Stadium – London, UK
