The highly-anticipated collaboration between country superstars Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs, titled “Backup Plan,” finally hit music streaming services today (May 2), and it’s safe to say we’ve found the song of the summer.
Referencing the highs and lows of chasing your dreams, the powerful anthem sends words of encouragement to listeners everywhere, with the pair singing “So if you got a fire don’t lose it / If you got a do or die dream do it / If you got something to prove go on ‘n prove it / Don’t let nobody clip your wings / Keep your head down, keep on the blinders / Tune out the doubters and all the closed-minders / If it’s in your blood, falling down ain’t enough / To change who you were born to be / And gettin’ back up, that’s the only backup plan you need” in the chorus.
Nevertheless, in an Instagram post this morning, Zimmerman revealed that this collaboration with Combs has been in the works since January, leaking the text message that he had sent the “Hurricane” singer before making musical magic together.
“I don’t know what you got going on this year as far as music, but I’ve been wanting to send you this song for a while that I think me and you could crush… jam it and let me know what you think,” the Illinois native sent Combs on January 22, along with an audio recording of the tune.
Responding over a month later, Combs replied, “Yo! This tune rips. I’m in,” and the rest is history.
After previewing the track to attendees at Stagecoach — where Combs served as a headliner — both parties are seemingly as happy as can be to finally release “Backup Plan” to the public, but Zimmerman is outwardly over the moon.
Taking to social media time and time again, he simply could not stop gushing about how surreal it was to work with Combs.
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A post shared by ▫Bailey Zimmerman▫ (@bailey.zimmerman)
Zimmerman first teased the collaboration on Easter (April 20), writing “Happy Easter Y’all ✝️ I’m announcing something TOMORROW that I’ve been keeping a secret for so freakin’ long 👀 STAY TUNED… YALL ARE GONNA LOVE THIS ❤️” in an Instagram caption that accompanied a sweet selfie alongside his dog.
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A post shared by ▫Bailey Zimmerman▫ (@bailey.zimmerman)
The following day, Zimmerman delivered the news to his 1.8 million followers, sharing a sweet selfie alongside Combs instead. “Well Y’all… BZ x @lukecombs 🔥👀” the caption read. Later on in the day, Zimmerman posted a snippet of the tune as well, building up a great deal of excitement surrounding the soon-to-be hit song.
From then on, the “Holy Smokes” singer’s Instagram account was practically dedicated to promoting this new collaboration, as well as praising his collaborator.
“A FREAKIN’ DREAM COME TRUE… Y’ALL ARE GONNA LOVE THIS ONE w/ @lukecombs 🔥😎,” he captioned an Instagram reel on April 23, followed by several other similar posts across his various social media platforms.
The teasing came to a close just hours before the tune hit music streaming services, writing in an Instagram reel yesterday (May 1), “Still can’t believe I have a song with Luke Combs dropping tonight.” He captioned said reel, “‘Backup Plan’ w/ @lukecombs DROPS TONIGHT AT 11pm (cst) 🔥👀 THIS IS FREAKIN’ INSANE ❤️”
Beaming with excitement, this appears to be a major career milestone for Zimmerman. Who will he collaborate with next, though?
To find out for yourself, country music lovers can connect with the 25-year-old singer/songwriter via Instagram at @baileyzimmerman for all of the updates.
