Kill the Lights

Album: Kill the Lights (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Luke Bryan wrote this song, which contains an almost EDM beat, with father-and-son producers Jeff and Jody Stevens. "They came out to the house one day," he related to Taste of Country. "Jody is a great track guy. He builds tracks at the house, works on stuff, and he played me this kind of, just a real funky groove, and I heard it, and I loved it."

    Jody Stevens' track lined up perfectly with an idea that Bryan already had stored away. "I went in my phone, and I had typed in a title for a song called 'Kill the Lights,'" the singer recalled. "We started it there. We didn't really know any direction."

    Bryan drew from his own personal experience for the lyrics. "I remember being 17, 18 and going down a dark dirt road, and cutting the lights off on the truck," he recalled. "I think it made for a really really sexy, uptempo song that a lot of people can relate to, and I think a few people out there probably killed some lights out in the middle of nowhere."
  • The Kill the Lights album debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 200 chart with more than 345,000 copies sold. It was the largest sales week for a country LP in three years - since Bryan's previous full album,Crash My Party, which arrived at #1 with 528,000 in August 2013.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of WayneSongwriter Interviews

The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.

Billy Gould of Faith No More

Billy Gould of Faith No MoreSongwriter Interviews

Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

Tom Keifer of Cinderella

Tom Keifer of CinderellaSongwriter Interviews

Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.

Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes

Chris Robinson of The Black CrowesSongwriter Interviews

"Great songwriters don't necessarily have hit songs," says Chris. He's written a bunch, but his fans are more interested in the intricate jams.