The Singles Jukebox

If we weren’t blurbing this? We’d probably just be blurbing something else…

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[4.67]

Tim de Reuse: Well, as awkward as the phrase “doin’ this” is, it’s the most likeable sentiment Combs has ever managed; there is something magic about a tiny show in a forgettable town, and the specificity of his fantasy is convincing. He’s let down by the extravagant production, which is predictable for Combs but particularly jarring when he’s singing about barely scraping by — and what the hell is that corporate piano doing there? Did the seedy bar have a Steinway in the back?
[4]

Thomas Inskeep: I’m not sure that “full-blown Adele” is the right direction for Luke Combs.
[3]

John S. Quinn-Puerta: I genuinely can’t believe Combs expected me to enjoy four minutes of this. For a song about a commitment to live performance, it drags slower than the molasses used to make that brown liquor he’s so fond of. Everything sounds fine, but I’m just missing any semblance of energy.
[2]

Alfred Soto: Self-mythology becomes this bathetic tub o’ guts. I even got to thinking if anyone can cover “Wanted Dead or Alive” it’s Luke Goddamn Combs. 
[6]

Scott Mildenhall: Hilariously, mystifyingly po-faced. The revelation that someone who likes music would still be making it if they weren’t famous is not one worthy of such a dramatic reading. However it might seem in the warped world of performative humility that is country, this all smacks of a belief in “bootstraps” politics and myths of meritocracy. Maybe if he wasn’t doing this, he might have a broader imagination.
[4]

Al Varela: It’s easy to roll your eyes at an artist who claims they don’t care about the fame and fortune, but Luke Combs is one of the only celebrities I actually believe it from. If nothing else, “Doin’ This” shows that Combs has a passion for making music unlike anyone else. The success he’s gained was never the end goal, but he’s eternally grateful for the fans who stuck around and believed in him. Even if he never reached this level, he’d still be playing small shows and bar-room floors because music completes him in a way nothing else can. His tremendous voice soaring across the roaring steel and electric guitar is inspiring, and makes what could be a pretty standard Luke Combs song stand out as one of his best singles to date.
[9]