Why Sam Hunt ‘Stepped Back’ From the Spotlight

After releasing his massive hit “Body Like A Back Road” in 2017 and the follow-up, “Downtown’s Dead,” in 2018, Sam Hunt has remained mostly under the radar, only performing a select number of shows and staying relatively quiet on social media. The superstar has also only done a handful of interviews and has remained tight-lipped about his new music, that is, until now.

In a new interview with ET Canada, the superstar shared extensive details about his decision to step away from the spotlight and opened up about his new music.

Speaking with ET Canada‘s Sangita Patel from his recent concert at the Bud Light House Party in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Hunt held nothing back when asked about his recent hiatus, admitting that the intensity of his sudden superstardom took a bit of a toll on him.

“For a couple years there it was pretty intense and it was a drastic change of pace and a drastic lifestyle shift for me as somebody who had just been, not casually writing songs, I was working hard in Nashville, but I had a routine and I’d kind of settled into Nashville and it was home,” he shared. “And taking off on a bus and doing things like this… the interviews and talking about myself and my music, it was a lot for a couple years.”

Rather than let himself be consumed by his career, Hunt made a conscious decision to “take a step back.”

“I got to a point where I really didn’t feel like I could I was smelling the roses because it was happening so fast,” he explained, adding, “so I stepped back and kind of digested it all and kind of processed everything that had happened.”

It was during this time that Hunt started thinking about new music and figuring out which direction he wanted to take his career. Now, after over a year of writing songs for his next project, Hunt says he’s “excited” to make his long-awaited return.

“We’ve been in the studio this week we recorded four songs I’ve got several more to record and I plan on turning it in the first of the year, but we’ll have a single out before the end of this year,” he revealed.

S0 what can fans expect from the follow-up to 2014’s Montevallo?

“There are some songs like ‘Body Like A Backroad’…that character was sort of in my first record too in songs like ‘House Party,’ he said. “Sometimes I’ll take it way too serious and then I’ll just completely like slingshot to the other side which is like where songs like ‘House Party’ and ‘Body Like A Backroad’ come from, so there are more of that. There is more of that light-hearted sentiment on some songs and then there are some reflective songs that balance those songs out.”

Specific details about Sam Hunt‘s new single and album have yet to be released.