Luke Bryan Eager For Fans to Hear ‘Countrier’ New Album, ‘What Makes You Country,’ Out Today

Luke Bryan’s sixth studio album, What Makes You Country, is out today (Dec. 8). When asked to describe the 15-track record, Bryan says that the description really is up to the fans to decide.

“It’s hard to say until you get it out to the people,” Bryan tells PopCulture.com. “At the end of the day, the fans truly dictate what type of album you have made, because sometimes, I’ll think something is country as cornbread, and then I’ll hear somebody else’s song, and I’m like, ‘Uh oh, I’m not as country as that one.’ But my current feedback that everybody’s telling me, is that it is more of a country album than I’ve put out.”

Bryan’s current single, “Light It Up,” is his first from What Makes You Country, following six consecutive No.1 hits from his previous multi-platinum Kill the Lights project. But although Kill the Lights was a huge commercial success, Bryan didn’t try to just copy that formula for his latest set of tunes.

“It’s a little countrier than I’ve done on the past couple of records,” Bryan reveals. “The bottom line with me is, it’ll always be [to] just find those songs that truly inspire me, move me. Songs that take me somewhere, and I feel like I’ve done that with this album. I feel like I’ve touched on being a father, touched on still being kind of a partier. I’ve touched on being a country boy, and being in love and out of love and all of that.”

Bryan will have a much-needed rest of the holidays, before he launches into what he says will be the “busiest” year of his career, thanks to his role as a judge on American Idol, while also crossing the country on his 2018 What Makes You Country Tour. But the Georgia native will kick off the New Year by first heading down to Mexico, for his fourth annual Crash My Playa, with Blake Shelton, Maren Morris, Sam Hunt, Brett Young and Dustin Lynch joining him for the four-night event.

“I think it’s so fun for me, that this thing can be what we want it to be every year, what the fans want,” Bryan says. “[I’m] so happy to have Brett and Maren come down. I think any time we have our Nashville faithful come down for the first time, I think they truly enjoy it. It’s always such a nice departure from – you’ve [had] a long year of touring, hopefully you’ve had some of January off, and you can come down to the Mexican Riviera and get some sun and bring some people that you enjoy.

“One thing is, you get to work on some new songs down there, and get ready for the New Year,” he adds. “To have Sam and Blake be a part of it too – Blake and I had a blast last year, and I think I’m trying to pull of even some more surprises for this year, so stay tuned.”

Purchase What Makes You Country on Amazon and iTunes.