Luke Bryan Is ‘Writing and Creating’ Ahead of Next Album

Luke Bryan is back in the studio! The “What Makes You Country” singer reveals he is juggling his time between American Idol with working on a new record — the follow up to his 2017 What Makes You Country project.

“What’s funny is, I put an album out, I had Idol going on — pre-taping,” Bryan told ABC News Radio. “I had an album release. And I mean, I had so much going on, [that] I think, kinda, for the first time in my career, I just took about six legitimate months off of writing. And now, it’s interesting. The past month, I’ve really been excited to be back writing and creating.”

The title track of What Makes You Country is the fourth, and perhaps final single, before Bryan releases something from his next set of tunes.

“We have some stuff on my current album that we’re weighing whether we want to [release it as a] single …or not,” Bryan admitted. “I’ve been in the studio. I’ve recorded some songs that we’re really, really excited about. I’m writing a lot. I’m excited to be writing.”

Bryan will have to juggle studio time with his time on Idol, which might not be that easy. The Georgia native admits that, although he loves being a judge on American Idol with Lionel Richie and Katy Perry, it’s exhausting.

“The road tires you out in this way: when you’re running up and down stadiums and doing all that, you wake up the next day and you feel like you ran through a stadium,” Bryan told ABC. “And when you’re out on Idol, we notice you get done and you just want a nice glass of wine just to kind of shut your brain off, because you’ve been concentrating for 12 hours on making the right decisions with these kids.”

Bryan, a seasoned performer who will next hit the road on his Sunset Repeat Tour with Cole Swindell and Jon Langston, gets worn out by the reality TV talent show in an entirely different way.

“They’re both equally exhausting, because touring is physically [exhausting],” Bryan explained. “Idol, when we start falling in love with these kids … And with our auditions, we just did three 12-hour days. It’s like you’re taking the SAT every day.”

American Idol airs on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Find a list of all of Bryan’s upcoming shows by visiting his website.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Kevin Winter