Luke Combs released a snippet of a new song about his two sons — which came as a powerful surprise to his wife, Nicole Combs.
The country superstar, 34, uploaded a clip of a song called “The Man He Sees in Me” via Instagram on Wednesday, March 13, asking his 6.1 million followers: “Is this heading in the right direction y’all?”
The song, which makes reference to Luke’s life as a father to sons Tex, 20 months, Beau, 6 months, was met with a flood of comments from fans expressing their approval, but nobody had a bigger reaction than Luke’s own wife.
“You can’t just drop this and not tell me,” Nicole, 31, wrote in the comments section of the post. “Blindsided and EMOTIONAL.”
In the snippet, Luke croons about one of his sons in “Walmart boots and a camouflage hat,” as the singer gets candid about his fear of living up to their expectations.
“Well I hope he never finds out that I didn’t hang the moon / And I’ve never scared a monster out the closet in his room,” Luke sings. “Some day between him leaving home and driving on my knee / Maybe I’ll finally be the man he sees in me.”
The ballad also earned raves from some of Luke’s country music peers. “World on Fire” singer Nate Smith commented, “I love this Luke!!!!!!!,” while Cole Swindell simply wrote, “Lord. 🙌.”
Luke first teased “The Man He Sees in Me” during an acoustic performance he posted via Instagram in January.
“What’s up, guys? It’s Luke here on dad duty again,” he introduced the video with one of his sons audible in the background. “Back from my hunting trip. Beau’s over there doing tummy time expressing himself. Tex is taking a nap. I got the baby monitor over here. Nicole’s on the treadmill.”
Luke continued, “Y’all said you like dad songs. So, I got a whole bunch of them lined up.”
His wife expressed her love for the song back then too, commenting on the post with three fire emojis.
While it appears Luke has now recorded a studio version of “The Man He Sees in Me,” he has not yet announced any plans for the song’s release.
Luke’s most recent album, Gettin’ Old, released in March 2023, featured his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which he performed with the legendary singer at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in February.
Next, Luke embarks on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour, which kicks off April 12 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
