‘WHY’ by Jon Bellion & Luke Combs - Lyrics & Meaning

Arriving as a bolt from the blue in May 2025, Jon Bellion recruits Luke Combs for this soulful, genre-blending ballad, which finds the duo reflecting on the anxieties surrounding parenthood. ‘WHY’ appears on Bellion's new studio album, FATHER FIGURE.

Jon Bellion had been holding onto ‘WHY’ for four years, and was expecting it to be recorded by another artist, because at the time, Bellion was focussed on being solely a songwriter. He revealed that four major artists cut the track, but never released it.

We're glad that he decided to keep it for himself in the end, with ‘WHY‘ a visceral, evocative exploration of the bittersweet nature of caring for someone, with the prospect of immeasurable grief always lingering in the shadows as you fall deeper in love.

‘WHY’ features one of the sparser arrangements on FATHER FIGURE, with Jon Bellion opening the track alongside a folk-leaning acoustic guitar, with the composition building out as the song progresses. The focus is - rightly - placed on Bellion and Luke Combs’ captivating vocals, allowing them to lace as much emotional intensity into their delivery as possible. Combs’ voice is always enchanting, but this is one of the most rousing performances we've heard from him in recent years.

“I'm scared to meet you 'cause then I might know you
And then once I know you, I might fall in love
And once I'm in love, then my heart is wide open
For you to walk in, drop a bomb, blow it up”

Jon Bellion penned ‘WHY’ 48 hours before his first son was born, after he experienced a panic attack about the prospect and impending responsibility of becoming a father.

In this verse, he powerfully depicts the worry that fills his mind, as he underlines that he is scared to meet his son, as it puts him in a more vulnerable state than ever before. Should anything happen to him, the grief he would feel would consume him.

“So why love anything, anything, anything at all?
Why love anything at all?
If the higher I fly is the further I fall
Then why love anything at all?”

Bellion asks why human beings decide to love anything in this world, if it can be taken away. The line, “If the higher I fly is the further I fall” is a beautifully poetic but heartbreaking portrayal of grief, with the amount of sadness we feel when losing a loved one often framed as being equal to the joy we experienced when that person was alive.

“Stressed and strung out about things that could happen
And I could move mountains with the worryin' I've done
So I called my father and he started laughing
He said, "You think it's bad now? Wait 'til you have a son"”

Although he doesn't have a writing credit on this song, this verse feels personal to Luke Combs. The ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ chart-topper has two sons, and has been open in the past about his battles with OCD and the anxiety this brings with in.

Combs reflects on all the worry he's been experiencing, quipping that he could “move mountains” with the amount of stressing and ruminating he's been doing of late.

He describes a phone-call with his father, with the latter sharing that his fears will only intensify when he has a son, touching on how this father-son bond alters when the son has a child of his own. Despite no resolution being offered, the underlying spirit of ‘WHY’ is that the potential grief is of course worth the love we get to share with those closest to us, even though their death is a terrifying prospect.

On the song's release date, Luke Combs expressed his longstanding appreciation for Jon Bellion's music, and recalled the moment Bellion asked him to lend his voice to ‘WHY’, “I’ve been a massive Jon Bellion fan for years. He texted me the song WHY and I loved it. With me having two sons of my own and knowing how much I love them and how big of a role they play in my “WHY,” it was a no brainer”.

The North Carolina singer-songwriter touchingly expanded, “I instantly told him I was in. I’m super pumped about this song and I’m grateful Jon asked me to be a part of it. Song and music video are out now and I hope y’all love it as much as I do!”

In a message to his fans, Jon Bellion shed some more light on how the song came about, revealing he'd been holding onto it for four years, “Literally 48 hours before my first son came into this world I was in a session and the artist cancelled. I was working with friends (Amy Allen and Blake Slatkin). I was actually ready to head home when the artist cancelled but Blake said “I want to make a Jon Bellion record”. My immediate response was “I haven’t written a song for myself in years, and I’ll never be an artist” to which he replied “I don’t care” haha”.

Bellion movingly went on, “For the first time in a while it forced me to dig super deep into where I was at in that moment personally, and out of nowhere an actual panic attack hit me. I literally started thinking thoughts like am I crazy for bringing a life into this world? What if something goes wrong? Am I even capable of raising a boy? What is the point of like life itself kinda shit. From there the song kinda just poured outta me and Amy crushed it just ushering it in from the sky with me”.

Somewhat modestly, the New York native thought he wasn't ever going to record the song himself, “I went home thinking I would eventually just give it to another artist someday but over the last few years 4 different major [artists] cut the song and every single one of them told me the same thing. “I can’t sing this song because there is a spirit on [it]. It just feels like it’s yours. I can’t take this from you.” Which frustrated the shit out of me cuz I was convinced I would never be an artist”.

He endearingly concluded by thanking Combs for joining him on ‘WHY’, “Fast forward and I’m typing this message to you guys as my first born is chirping in my ear about some Pokémon nonsense and I can barely finish typing this. 😂 God is wild like that. This song doesn’t really solve. I still have questions on a grand scale. But this song gives me a weird peace about it all. Even if it’s only for the length of the song. I wanna thank Luke for coming in and elevating this song in every way. TenRoc, Pete, and The Diner for always being down to help. Aaron Dessner for BODYING the bridge music I couldn’t figure out for months. And Blake and Amy for being supportive and through the roof talented and writing this with me”.

“I'm scared to meet you 'cause then I might know you
And then once I know you, I might fall in love
And once I'm in love, then my heart is wide open
For you to walk in, drop a bomb, blow it up

-

So why love anything, anything, anything at all?
Why love anything at all?
If the higher I fly is the further I fall
Then why love anything at all?

-

Stressed and strung out about things that could happen
And I could move mountains with the worryin' I've done
So I called my father and he started laughing
He said, "You think it's bad now? Wait 'til you have a son"

-

So why love anything, anything, anything at all?
Why love anything at all?
If the higher I fly is the further I fall
Then why love anything at all? (Oh)

-

Why love? (Why lovе?)
Why love? Why love? Why love? (Why lovе?)
Why love? Why love? Why love? (Why love?)
Anything at all? (Anything at all?)”

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