Why Did Luke Bryan’s Album Get So Much Social Media Hate?

Before Luke Bryan released his Signs album last Friday, much of the online discourse around it was…well, not entirely kind.

The first single, “Fish Hunt Golf Drink,” famously garnered jokes, mockery and speculation about whether the singer used AI to write lyrics like “Wake up / Coffee / Camo / Climb tree.”

And the eye-rolling didn’t stop there. When Byan teased “Down Goes the Whiskey” on TikTok in August, the comments section ballooned with “___ goes the ___” quips, including a submission from Southwest Airlines. The top comment, “Fart goes the butt,” earned an incredible 336.9K likes and became a running joke that’s been infecting the singer’s comment sections on unrelated posts ever since.

Did Bryan really deserve all that? Are his lyrics really that cheesy?

It’s no secret that his country music niche is feel-good bangers, and sometimes that comes at the expense of depth. But we’d argue that there are three big reasons why Signs is catching more flak than Bryan’s previous projects, and only one of them is really his fault.

Luke Bryan’s Lyrics Are Easy Prey For Social Media Trolls

Social media has a knack for picking out one quibble and blowing it up to supersize proportions.

The singer has noticed.

He protested against a few specific fan comments on “Fish Hunt Golf Drink” posts, according to Holler, writing responses like “It’s called a fun song. Just listen and have fun. Go get [on] a boat quit scrolling on your phone all day [sic].”

Read More: Luke Bryan Gives Dancing Superfan Free Tickets For Life

Bryan has put out many songs that would fall into the “fun” category over the course of his career. And, to a certain extent, fans have always joked about them. But many of those songs came out before TikTok did. In the past, those moments would be short-lived, with limited reach, often circulated primarily among country fans.

Now, especially since the singer has gained wider recognition as an American Idol judge, one user’s hot take can easily reverberate out into a bigger, longer-lasting Internet moment. And Bryan’s Signs album is feeling the heat.

The A.I. Insults Are Missing Something Big About Luke Bryan

Bryan has denied the rumors that he used AI to write “Fish Hunt Golf Drink,” and we believe him — if not for any other reason, then because the song sounds like a lot of tracks he’s cut before.

The structure is actually a pretty classic Luke Bryan “list-of-things” lyric. See also “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” and “One Margarita.”

Those songs came out in 2017 and 2020, respectively, and though AI was certainly around at the time, the most mainstream song-generating AI platforms hadn’t been rolled out yet. Unless you want to argue that Bryan has been secretly on the absolute cutting edge of AI songwriting usage for the past decade, it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that he just likes cutting songs that sound like that.

Not to get too meta about things, but AI uses massive existing datasets in order to learn how to do things like write a country song — and Luke Bryan is one of the most prominent country artists of the modern era. So while it might seem like Bryan’s songs resemble an AI-generated country hit, it’s also possible that…well, AI country songs sound like Luke Bryan.

All that sounds like we’re making the case that the Internet is being too hard on Bryan. But the third reason why Signs is getting dogged so much is maybe the biggest factor in the phenomenon — and the singer only has himself to blame for it.

Luke Bryan Hasn’t Really Evolved As An Artist 

In 2026, Bryan is one of a trilogy of big country acts — Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton are the other two — who are nearing or have celebrated their 50th birthdays.

Now, age is just a number, but 50 is a big cornerstone one. It’s around that time that many artists (and people) start thinking about their second acts. Sometimes, it’s even a plausible stopping point for a touring artist’s retirement.

Jason Kempin, Getty Images

No one’s suggesting Luke Bryan should retire — not even close. He’s still selling out shows, releasing big hits and seemingly having a great time doing it. But most of the songs on Signs don’t sound like he’s given much thought to what kind of older-generation artist he wants to evolve into becoming.

Blake Shelton, by contrast, pulled back from The Voice and scaled down new music releases in order to focus on his wife Gwen Stefani, his role as a stepdad and his Las Vegas residency dates. Jason Aldean released an album called Songs About Us that — while not a total departure from his bread-and-butter hits — extends its focus into songs about tough real-life topics like having family members who are facing illness.

And Bryan is still releasing songs about bourbon-fueled breakups and home-grown country girls. Yes, those are tropes that served him well in his “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” days.

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But the singer is now a happily-married guy in his 50s who’s in the process of sending his kids off to college. At what point do those “fun, silly songs” stop being fun, and start being just silly?

What Should Luke Bryan Do Next?

There actually are a couple of songs on Signs that feel more like a grown-up version of Bryan. But they were buried pretty deep in the track list, and weren’t the feature tracks he used to introduce listeners to the project.

Of those, the easiest choice for a focus track is “Crooked Rows of Corn.” It’s got the same country boy heart and aw-shucks goofiness that fans know and love from previous singles — but it’s sung from the perspective of a couple remembering their early days together “10 springs and three babies later.” That feels a little more age-appropriate coming from a star who’s well past his early, flirty life stage.

The other two, “Killer” and “Praying By the Rules,” are back-to-back final songs on the album. “Killer” is sung from the perspective of a firearm, and while it’s too much of a stretch to call it an anti-gun song, it’s certainly advocating for responsible gun ownership. The gun in the song seems to feel pretty disappointed that it was made into a tool for violence instead of something less somber, like a little kid’s bike.

Read More: Luke Bryan Sings From the Perspective of a Gun on New Song, “Killer”

Listeners will doubtless have their complaints about this song, too — guns are a touchy topic. Some will criticize him of going against his hunting, outdoorsman roots; others will say his statement is too bland and he didn’t go far enough. But “Killer” is the only country song we know of that’s sung from the perspective of a gun, and you’ve gotta give Bryan credit for trying something new.

Finally, “Praying by the Rules” ends the album with a troubled, and very relatable, song about faith. Its lyrics wonder if God is still listening, even if Bryan doesn’t always follow his faith to a T.

Songs about the tougher moments in an artist’s relationship with God are a natural match for country music. Ella Langley ended her Dandelion album powerfully with a track like that, “Speaking Terms.” But it’s still not an oversaturated trope, and Bryan’s submission to the theme makes a lot of sense for his life stage as well as his fan base.

So if we’re giving Bryan one piece of unsolicited advice, it’s this: You don’t need to abandon your brand to evolve away from high-drama breakup songs and hip-shaking, lusty bangers.

Read More: Luke Bryan’s 50 Best Songs, Ranked

The social media response to the lead songs on this project is evidence that the kind of music Bryan rose to fame with is staling. Sooner or later, new songs like that are gonna stop ringing true to his fans, too. But he can pivot without a complete revamp.

He can still be the warm, feel-good country artist fans love and still move away from party anthems and toward something gentler and more reflective. He’s already doing that on Signs, to a limited extent — but next time around, those themes should be the face of the project, and the first tracks fans hear.