Why Vulnerability is the Key to Humanizing Your Brand with Luke Combs

0:00Nobody wants to get catfished by dating profiles or big wireless carriers with hidden fees. Your one true match? Visible Wireless. It's one-line wireless with unlimited data and hotspot for just$25 a month, taxes and fees included. Now that's a green flag. And it's fully digital, so you can switch as fast as you swipe. Tap the banner to learn more. Terms apply. See visible.com for planned features and network management details. How old are you? 35. I've reached basically the 1 % of the 1 % musically success wise. There's other things to scratch. Without a doubt is. So what are those things? Like real talk.

0:41Nothing can fuck it up. Nothing. Right. My brain's ability to come up with ridiculous ideas is also the thing that helps me write songs. What the fuck do you most want to do? What do you write? You've already done that once. Sometimes it's harder to do that again after the big win. Everybody out there who's watching right now, they think the hard part is this part. it's actually the next part. Luke Holmes launches direct-to-consumer diaper brand. The diapers would have to be solid. You know what I mean? They'd have to be solid. You have to understand why that's so easy. You have to do it 12 times a year.

1:10You could do it anywhere. It's a couple of hours. You're crippled by opportunity. Certainly. How tapped into your fucking soul are you that you want to actually do authentic things that are in the face of conflict to the fan base or where you're currently at is the great fucking question. I'm on the board of Bojangles. I've never liked anything more. That's the best thing I've heard in the last week probably because I've been preaching it for free for the last 20 years.

1:39This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience. How you doing, brother? I'm good, man. What are you in town for? This, dude. No way. Press stuff, baby. That's awesome. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, I got a new album. You promote it? Yeah, when's it coming out? March, March 20th. How you feeling? Good, feeling great. You like it? Yeah, I was trying to get old. I got my third baby coming in February, so I'm trying to get ahead of it. Man, a big year. Oh, man, it's gonna be crazy for sure. It's gonna be busy. There's no doubt. Listen, I'm super flattered that you connect with the content, man. I just want to say thank you.

2:09Yeah, of course, man. Yeah, I'm glad to be here, man. I'm excited. Excited, yeah. Anything you want to jam on? Anything that's on your mind? Dude, I'm with you, brother. Whatever. What, so going into this chapter, how old are you? 35. That's amazing. Yeah, it's not bad. Not a bad age. No, it's a great age. Especially to have this level of professional success, family success, and have your whole life still in front of you. Yeah. I'm sure at some level that's got you really thinking about things differently, yes? Oh, tremendously so. Yeah. Because you're kind of like, well, I mean, I can almost go anywhere from here at this point.

2:47100 ,000%. You know what I mean? You keep going down the road or you could, I don't know, you know? Not that I'm like trying to do something crazy, but you know. No, I think it's an and thing. Yeah, it's like, well, I can, you know, it's not like I'm just got my first hit and I'm 40. You know what I mean? Yeah. A lot of my favorite artists growing up were, I mean, they got the breakout year was like when they were 36. Yeah, of course. You know, I'm like 10 years in. Yeah, of course. You know, it's crazy. Are you thinking about other things you want to accomplish and tackle? I mean I think there's it's always like how could I you know stay somewhat in my lane right like I'm a big fan of that like I'm a big fan of like authenticity like being anything I do feeling authentic is important to me but it's also like how can I Is there anything that you're authentically interested in that you are concerned that if you do it the world wouldn't think it's authentic but is authentic to you and let me tell you why I'm asking that When I was red hot as a businessman, and people were like, oh, this is a serious businessman, I was like, fuck, man, I want to make garage sale videos.

3:55And people were like, huh. And I knew that the everyday man and woman were going to fucking love it. But what I knew ended up happening, which was the bougie 5 % of the biggest players in the world were going to look heavily down on it. Sure, of course. And for me, like V friends, like trying to build a, like I do a lot of, I resonate with what you're talking about because I think I have incredible courage to do shit that my fans, the business world, and sometimes, and oftentimes even my inner circle don't understand why I would do that. And the only reason I do it is because I authentically want to.

4:40Right, right, exactly. So the question becomes like, how deep down the authentic tunnel do you want to go? I'll give you a silly one. If you collected miniature dolls, and you were like, I just fuck with them because me and my grandma did it. I fuck with them. But you're fucking, and you're like, fuck, man. Am I going to really go? Yeah, right? So I think that's the actual real question, brother. like it's easy to say you want to go down do authentic things what's hard is how tapped into your fucking soul are you that you want to actually do authentic things that are in the face of conflict to the fan base or where you're currently at is the great fucking question.

5:28Yeah it's like you're almost like you want it to be authentic and that word sometimes in your mind you think we got somebody I think, you know what it is? No, we're fine. I think it's a super fan that's trying to break through the wall.

5:47But it's like, yeah, I think there's sometimes when you say, like as an artist, if you say, well, I want to do this authentic thing, you may mean saying that I want to do something that I want to do without people pushing back. Yes. That's what people assume authentically. Or fits into my brand perfectly. That. It perfectly fits my brand that already exists. You're like, hey, I kind of fuck with hunting. I'm going to do a bow and arrow brand. And people are like, and everyone's like, yeah. But it's the eighth thing you actually want to do, not the first thing. Right. By the way, this is why I fuck with Lil Wayne so much.

6:21Wheezy deserves the most question. At his height of fucking being cool, he's like, I'm fucking making a rock album. Exactly. Like something that universally people fucking hated. Right. Yeah. And I watched that the whole time. I'm like, this fucking guy's the best in the game because he just wants to live his, and by the way, that's narrow. He did that within his genre. Like he did a music thing that was a little left field. Sure, sure. I'm talking about like starting a peanut butter company. Right, exactly. You know what I mean? Or becoming a late night host. Or a standup comic. Right, right.

6:55Or starting a diapers brand. Right, right, right. Like if I read the headline, like Luke Holmes launches direct to consumer diaper brand. And you'd be like, huh. And I would be like, I, Gary Vaynerchuk, would be like, I fucking get it. The eight billion of them would be like, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah. The diapers would have to be solid. You know what I mean? They'd have to be solid, dude. But anyway, I think that's where you're at. You're crippled by opportunity. Camo diapers. You're crippled by opportunity. Oh, certainly. You could literally do anything. Certainly. Now the question becomes this chart of, of opportunity, you're at the height.

7:35Now, and I've sensed this from you through our interactions, through what I sense is happening here, what I'm passionate about happening here, there's the opportunity, you know that. I know you wanna go all in on authenticity. And I feel like personally, my hunger in this moment is to push you even further down it. Right, like chase the thing that. The actual real thing as if none of this actually happened, it's day one we went we're just you're my friend's younger brother and you're sitting here right now being like I'm fucking 35 and like I've got nothing going on what the fuck do I do and I say to you what the fuck do you most want to do what do you want to do right the good thing is you've already done that once true that's true right you actually pulled it off that happened to you you really did it like that and you really did it you did it you took it So now I'm saying, and you might feel this, I don't know you like that.

8:35Sometimes it's harder to do that again after the big win than even when you had, like everybody out there who's watching right now is like, they think the hard part is this part. It's actually the next part. Right, like starting anew basically. Correct. And yeah, for sure, because you're going, oh, I'm in this situation. I've reached basically this rarefied air of like the 1 % of the 1 % musically success-wise that you can possibly reach. And you can play that for the next 65 years. It'll ebb and flow. Sure, of course. In your 60s, you'll be playing the classics probably like everyone else. Maybe not.

9:11Maybe you have the capacity to reinvent, but there's other things to scratch. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, without a doubt is. So what are those things? Like real talk. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's. Like what bounces, it doesn't have to be fully clear. What are the kind of things that bounce in your head? Like, yo, that'd be fucking dope. Or I wish I could. Because again, I think what's happening is there's this block of like, here's the real thing you want to do, but I've watched you, like everybody, like from afar. I know, because I see you differently. I know that you're smart. what I mean by that is the way I no no but the way I like I most humans on earth when they analyze you analyze you from a music place I don't at all sure I view you from a brand building community building that's my angle which means I know that when you're thinking about the best things you could be doing you're being smart and thinking about how it impacts the music right because that's the fucking right that's the cash cow right I'm asking you to not do that for five minutes or five months and get into a place of knowing the truth that I know, which is nothing can fuck it up.

10:23Right. Nothing. Right. I think for me it would be, you know, if I think about things that I'm passionate about or, you know, I like to, you know, I would like to use my platform for good, I think, right? So that's a top thing for me. So I think for there, what you need to do is define what you think is good versus what everybody else thinks is good. So for a lot of people, come to me through the last decade as I've had a platform, and they think what's good is to me talk on issues that they're passionate about. What I think is good is building up people's self-esteem so that we don't fight about issues.

10:57Right. Hey everybody, I hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy. Everybody gets, you know what I mean? So you've got to decide what good is for you. Yeah. I mean for me it would be like it would be mental health for young people. Great. How much content do you make about that? I mean zero at this point. I mean I've talked about it openly a lot. So let's talk. We're jamming. We've got your team here. The easiest thing, Layup City is for you to start a podcast that you put out once a month where you walk in and you have someone else sit in and you kind of interview slash jam just like we're doing now around this.

11:42Yeah. I mean that's a great idea. You have to understand why that's so easy. You have to do it 12 times a year. You could do it anywhere. It's a couple of hours. It gets fully filmed but then you get hundreds of pieces of content. You put it into the world and you will massively impact people's lives. Yeah. Yeah I mean I agree. I mean I think it's a wonderful idea and have the you know like you like you're saying is using some of what you already have to facilitate the things that you want or the impact that you want to have would be for me the opportunity to directly reach out to artists with a similar size platform of similar influence have them open up to young people as well and say well look at what artist a b and c were able to accomplish in spite of and i would say yes and other people from other genres to broaden the conversation exactly athletes right you know what i mean right and it's like i think i've heard so many people reach out when i've I've talked about my OCD stuff that I have battled since I was a child basically, right?

12:40Like that's the, some of the most engagement I get in my direct messages or comments is people saying, my child has this thing and you talked about it or it's the child when I have the same. Can I ask you a random question? Sure. How much of that OCD do you think is also the magic that created all the success? I don't think, I don't think that any of it is, but I think that it comes in conjunction with, because the particular form of OCD that I have is predicated off basically like thoughts, right? Most OCD is based off of just thoughts, right? If not all. And so almost my brain can come up with these thoughts that provide me with stress and anxiety, and then it becomes an obsessive loop, right?

13:30Yep. So those, my brain's ability to come up with ridiculous ideas is also the thing that helps me write songs. But it's like, in some cases, I think it's kind of the - Your gift is your curse. 100%. Yeah. In some ways, yes. I think in all ways, by the way. Right. Personally, subjectively. Yeah. Who's someone who's spent a lot of time of his life thinking about these things, researching these things. I think all of it. And then I think once one understands, notice what your natural quick answer was versus like my actual answer to it is all of it. And then I wonder once one puts that in their mind that what that then does to when the darker or the negative or the anxious thoughts start to facilitate when your relationship with it is that you love it because it gave you all of the things you most love.

14:23I wonder if it mitigates its momentum to get to a tougher place. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I mean, I think there's, that's the thing that I feel the most passion towards because something that has had, it's been such a like cornerstone of my life for better or for worse. No, it's foundational. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's the foundation of your life. Part of my like entire identity at this point is like, it's, you know. I could not push you harder to do a podcast about it. Yeah. 12 episodes, commit to it. No, I mean, I would love to do that, honestly. I really would. And it's the best. And by the way, who wouldn't, what A-list celebrity even, let alone someone who's not, wouldn't love to get an email that says, hey, would love to have you on the podcast.

15:07By the way, we could do it anywhere. You could meet us in the trailer at one of our shows. You could do it on your computer from anywhere in the entire world if you want to. I think you should consider it. Well, Gary, we were just at a conference in Vegas yesterday when you said these brands don't have awareness that should be a relevance this year. Yes. all those people look like all of them because they need more relevance with the consumer right yeah of course I mean but I'm not even like what's good for Luke versus others is like he doesn't need this to be anything this is not a monetizable event yeah it's a passion he can sell he can sell more t-shirts in an hour on Shopify than the sponsorship on the podcast this is a non this is not from a business lens this is an end consumer lens this is an impact impact oh yeah but I think there's no there's no bigger Everybody would want to do it because of his platform, but I think the subject matter.

15:56There's no bigger win for an artist. Because here's the thing. You start out, quote unquote, like, listen, I'm the same guy I was when I started. I'm just in a different situation, right? But there's a million people out there who see any celebrity or musician, and they're like, well, that guy, he's totally different. He's changed. It's like you, it's a way to, one, impact young people who have the same problems, which is the number one positive of this potential idea. Yeah, the selfless part is that. And the number two is, it also goes, what a better way to humanize yourself if you're Lady Gaga or whatever it is.

16:35You know what I mean? Not that anybody hasn't talked about these things, but she's just an example. No, why podcasts are interesting is, to your point, everyone, most people, at some point along their journey, will start to allude to it or tell you their truth. Most. To your point, what this new medium of podcast allows is a two and a half hour conversation about it. You know this, you've done this your whole life. A 25 minute interview with Vogue, or the Wall Street Journal, or USA Today, or Fox News or CNN. You can't get deep. And you're trained and you're thinking a certain way but you being vulnerable will allow them to be more vulnerable and both of you in that story someone's going to say something that is literally going to save someone's life.

17:27One of the biggest reasons I still make content is because I do that for people too. Yeah. I mean it's brilliant to be quite honest. You know, like I come from a place of real love and like real hope to help. Yeah. And all you're saying is that right now. Exactly. And that's the thing. That's awesome. So that's, okay, so that's on the give back spirit, soul. What about being a builder and a grower? Like what about from more of a selfish, scratching your itch instead of giving back? Is there anything you want to accomplish in your career professionally outside of music that you're pondering? um it's outside of music you're saying um you don't need to i'm just curious i mean i i don't know that there's anything that jumps out to me right now that's like oh man i would love to be an olympic powerlifter you know what i mean like there's nothing that's like right in front of me that's like oh yeah this is the thing yeah you know what i mean have you pondered olympic power lift no no that was that was like the glutes and the legs here the legs are there at least You got the legs.

18:31I need some peptides. You know what I mean? AKA steroids. Yeah, for sure. That's what with peptides is the new buzzword for that. What about hobbies? What's your interest graph from a sports, travel, food? What's your world look like there? I'm a huge football guy. I would love to be involved in whatever sports my children want to do. I mean, as far as coaching, obviously I'm not out to build some multi-billion dollar coaching platform. What about when you were a kid? What was your favorite team? Carolina Panthers. That's like number one. Yeah, I know you're a big fan. You're pumped, right? First time in 10 years in the playoffs.

19:06We're still 15-year drought for my Jets. It's tough times right now. Bro, literally, the Jets have not made the playoffs in 15 years. The second biggest drought, now that you guys made it this year, is five. Ooh. The Jets haven't made it in 15 years. That hurts. All 31 other teams in the NFL have made it within the last five. So who's five? Who's the other team? There's like six or seven teams that are five. Raiders? Yeah, I think Raiders is one. honestly I'm I'm like so Giants Giants I think we're there Giants probably I get Mendoza what's that no we're not we may I actually don't want him I like the kid but I don't I have a feeling I don't I think his yeah no I saw I mean I'm so pumped for you she's going bro she's going right after this she flew in for this if I went to if I went to the University of Atlanta if I went to the University of Indiana and like this has been the last 30 40 50 years of the program, obviously there was that golden era in basketball, but never in football.

20:04I would walk to tonight's game. You can't overstate the turnaround. So happy for you. You can't overstate. That's why I'm happy for you with the Panthers or the Browns or the Lions. These franchises that don't have anything, they're the ones that are always easy for me. It's the ones like, for example, the Bulls, they've been bad for a long time, but I'm still not over how good they were in the 90s. I want them to be bad another 30 years. you know like the Patriots I'm so pissed about this Patriots thing this Drake May thing he's nice he went to UNC right he is Carolina he was a Panthers fan growing up I mean I love Bryce but we rep I have a sports agency we rep a lot of football players we we repped Matt Paradis who played center for you guys for a couple years we have your left tackle Vicky yeah he's awesome dude he's great yeah so we have your left tackle so I like I'm also, oh, you might like this.

20:58I'm on the board of Bojangles.

21:03I've never liked anything more. That's the best thing I've heard in the last week, probably. Well, listen, this is the beginning of a great friendship. I'll give you my number. You guys, you know, I know you've been, you guys have, but, and Mike always does represent my truth. However, I don't need people in between. We're just doing that because of how busy I am. But if there is anything, the new album. if you get serious about the podcast like how help you find people random shit you see something in your feed that I'm a part of that you're intrigued by or want to learn about I'll give you an example right now I'm going ballistic talking about live shopping on social media so the QVC stuff on social if you guys were talking about like hey we need to figure that out because we do want to sell unlimited merch that way because we don't like the way it's going now I expect after today's meeting that we get the first call and I'm happy to give everything I got.

21:57Sure. Well, I appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you for having us, man. We're launching the coach off soon. Yeah? Yeah. Let us help. Yeah. We know it uncomfortably well. I like that. I like that. Because you know who doesn't. Are you going to, are you too busy or are you going to try to go to the playoff game? Yeah, I got to go home and be with the kids. Nice. Who do you guys have? We got the Rams. We beat the Rams already this year. But listen, that scares me. I'm happy for Bryce. Tough to beat a team twice. It's tough to beat a really good team twice. Yeah, tough to beat a team that has a real shot to go to Super Bowl.

22:30Right, for sure. Like the team with the potential MVP. I love your QB. He's such a kid, man. Oh, dude. Forget about how he plays. When he got benched last year and came back, it was like a different guy. It was like a different guy stepped onto the field. It takes time. And he's small. Breeze, too, took a few minutes. I mean, don't we get Breeze? Dude, Breeze was small. I met Breeze on a golf course in California and I told him he ruined my childhood because he was on the Saints. I was like, you guys just beat us all the time. Pleasure. Everybody, if you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes.

23:09They're loaded. I appreciate your attention and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.