Released: 2018
Luke Combs’ ‘Must’ve Never Met You’ is a poignant country ballad about heartbreak and the struggle to move on. It challenges the common sayings about overcoming adversity and heartbreak, suggesting they don’t hold true for the singer’s deep-seated pain.
The song opens with the singer struggling to follow the advice of ‘just pick yourself up, dust yourself off’. This is a common phrase encouraging resilience, but for the singer, it’s not as easy as it sounds. He’s finding it hard to move on, to put ‘one foot in front of the other’.
He questions the saying ‘the grass is greener on the other side’, implying his current situation is far from better. He’s in a place of pain and loss, and the ‘other side’ isn’t greener for him.
‘What don’t kill you makes you stronger’ is another saying he disputes. Instead of feeling stronger, he feels the pain of his loss. He’s not healed by time, as the saying ‘time heals everything’ suggests. His world feels ended, contrary to the phrase ‘it ain’t the end of the world’.
The chorus repeats these sentiments, emphasizing his disbelief in these sayings. He insists that whoever said ‘you’ll find somebody new’ must’ve never met his lost love. The depth of his love and pain is so great that he can’t imagine finding someone else.
The second verse delves into the heart of his pain. He recalls his lover saying she’d never leave, then watching her walk away. He’s fallen hard, and the common advice of ‘maybe it wasn’t meant to be’ or ‘maybe you’re better off alone’ doesn’t comfort him.
The song concludes with a repetition of the chorus, reiterating his disbelief in the common sayings about moving on. The line ‘you win, you lose, you find somebody new’ is a summary of the typical cycle of relationships, but for the singer, it’s not that simple. His love was unique, and he believes those who suggest otherwise ‘must’ve never met you’.
