On Wednesday (May 16), enigmatic country megastar Sam Hunt released "Downtown's Dead." It was the first single he had released in more than a year, and the first hint at a new album since he said last summer that music was taking a back seat for awhile. The song is about the disillusionment of a breakup - in this case, for Hunt, with the nightlife.

"I love a good time and I love the environment of a concert or going downtown," Hunt says in an interview with radio personality Storme Warren.  "But life sort of turned into a 24/7 version of that and I needed a little more balance. A full diet of that leaves you feeling a little empty."

After the fast-rising success of Hunt's 2014 debut album, Montevallothe artist says his life  and priorities have changed meaning for him. The up-and-down that inspired hits like "Take Your Time" and "Break Up In a Small Town" has evened out.

"I've always been inspired from more of a sad, dark place, and I haven't felt that emotion in a long time." Hunt explains. "Now I'm doing other things, because I don't need that therapy as much anymore."

The artist married his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Hannah Lee Fowler, in 2017, while his record-breaking hit "Body Like a Back Road" was in the full swing of its 25-week string at the top of the charts. After such a momentous year, Hunt says he had to slow down and look at what was really important, and some of that shift was captured in "Downtown's Dead."

"There's that line in the bridge: 'What am I doing with my life,' where he snaps out of it a little bit. The whole song is about him snapping out of it."

Hunt says that a new album won't be coming in the very near future, but he did promise another song on the heels of "Downtown's Dead," and says a project is in the works.

"I have lots of songs in pieces right now," he says, adding that he needs to find more continuity in his music before the album comes together. This summer, Hunt will be on the road with Luke Bryan at the stadium and ballpark stops of his  What Makes You Country Tour. He's also scheduled to play the 2018 Taste of Country Music Festival in New York State in June.

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