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BECK WAS IN THE STUDIO, THINKING OF
escaping. “I remembered this button on
this videogame when I was a little kid,
where you can escape and you wouldn’t
be killed,” recalls the 49-year-old singer-
songwriter. “And I think there’s some-
thing about music that, to me, always
feels like a way of escaping or find-
ing some way out of the everyday.”
Absconding into your own world
serves as the focal point of Hyperspace
(the album shares the name of the video-
game the seven-time Grammy winner
played as a child), Beck’s synthy, somber
follow-up to 2017’s pop-indebted Colors.
Most of the record was co-written with
fellow genre-bender Pharrell, after the
producer reached out about enlisting
Beck for a track by his band N.E.R.D. “It’s
what I dream about, really, because a lot
of what I’ve done is writing on my own,
and I love the Lennon/McCartney ideal,”
he says of the collaboration. “I felt really
fortunate to work with someone who’s
written so many great songs.”
The music the duo produced attempts
to negotiate the maze of pain, trauma, and
fear we all confront from time to time—
topics Beck has a knack for writing about
with brutal, heartrending honesty (see:
2002’s Sea Change). On Hyperspace, those
issues are as relatable as ever. “We all have
our own kind of hyperspace, the thing that
helps us navigate and maybe transcend
our own problems and history,” he says. “It
feels very human to me.” —Alex SuskindCOSMOS
Innernotwithstanding—clad in
a black T-shirt and ball
cap, sipping from his sig-
nature stacked Solo cups.
“Even if you’re Tom Brady,
you’ve been on a team
with great people. I think
it’s a little bit selfish to
say, ‘I’m so great’ and
that I deserve all the
credit, because I just
don’t think that’s neces-
sarily true.”
Combs does deserve
his fair share, however,
having written or co-
written all of those No. 1hits with a combination
of plainspoken Everyman
grace and sly humor
wrapped in an easy-going-
down coating of retro-’90s
country vibes. And for
every good-time shout-
out to having “1, 2 Many”
or phone-number-sharing
Hooters waitresses,
Combs offers a refresh-
ingly sensitive story song
like the heart-string-
tugging new ode to fathers
“Even Though I’m Leaving”
and the gorgeous ballad
“Dear Today,” a reminder
letter from his future
self to not take things
for granted. He knows
his softer side is a part
of his broad appeal. And
he’s happy to show off
all his colors.
“There’s a lot that
comes with being a guy
in today’s society, where
you have to be really
tough or really badass,”
says Combs, noting that
during the past two years
on the road he’s learned
a lot about himself and
how much he can take
mentally and physically—
which included getting
engaged. “I learned that
it’s okay to be five differ-
ent people, like that
makes you the person
that you are.” And one of
those people is someone
who is willing to watch
Bachelor in Paradise with
his fiancée. “At the end of
the day, that stuff makes
you more of a man than
pretending like you’re this
hard-ass guy who doesn’t
have any feelings.”BECK
THE RISE
OF LUKE
Begins learning
guitar on summer
break—essen-
tially because
he’s bored2011
Writes first song2012
FEBRUARY
Drops first EP
JULY
Drops second EP
SEPTEMBER
Quits day jobs
as club bouncer
and Izod clerk,
respectively;
moves to
Nashville2014
Releases third EP,
which includes
original version
of “Hurricane”2015
JUNE
Releases debut LP,
This One’s for You,
and later a deluxe
version, This One’s
for You Too, which
spawn five No. 1
songs collectivelyNOVEMBER
Wins Best New
Artist at CMA
AwardsAPRIL
Wins Best New
Male Vocalist at
ACM Awards
JULY
Inducted into the
Grand Ole Opry
AUGUST
Nominated for
three CMA
awards; gets
sixth No. 1 with
“Beer Never
Broke My Heart”