Luke Bryan has a Top 15 hit with his current single, “Love You, Miss You, Mean It.” The song, written by Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip, Jordan Minton and Jacob Rice, felt as authentic to Bryan, and his relationship with his wife of 17 years, Caroline, as if he had written it himself.
“This song was special from the first time I heard it,” Bryan says (via Songfacts). “‘Love You, Miss You, Mean It’ is obviously about kids falling in love and that was their saying to let each other know that they loved one another.
“It’s about young love,” he continues. “It’s about going off to college and trying to make that work and it not working and then going full circle. I’ve kind of lived that world with my relationship with my wife and I, and I know a lot of other people out there have too.”
When Bryan first heard “Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” he wasn’t sure if he would include it on an album or not. But he did know that it felt very much like a hit song, something he would know something about, since he celebrated 30 No. 1 singles last year.
“I’m not thinking about this when I’m ingesting the song,” Bryan says. “I’m just loving it for what it is. And then we go to record it, and everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, this kind of sounds like vintage, throwback, Luke stuff.’ I don’t realize that, but then it kind of does. I think that the title, ‘Love You, Miss You, Mean It’ is so identifiable.
“And then the story with people,” he adds. “How many people have had the high school sweetheart that they broke up with and wound up living the story of getting back together? I think the song just spoke to me on all those levels.”
The 48-year-old has enjoyed more than 15 years as one of country music’s biggest hitmakers. Fortunately, Bryan has found a way to deal with fame and success.
“I’m grounded more than ever in what I need to say as an artist, certainly for the rest of my career,” Bryan says. “I really feel blessed that I can still, after all this time, have a tangible role as being somebody high up in the business. At the end of the day … when I’m on stage, I love every second of it. I still love connecting with the fans, and I still love hearing great songs.”
Bryan is currently in the middle of his massive MInd of a Country Boy Tour, which kicked off in April in Canada, and runs through early September. He will enjoy a brief time at home, before kicking off his six-show Farm Tour, which begins on September 19 in Grantville, Pennsylvania.
Find all of Bryan’s music and upcoming shows at LukeBryan.com.