"Light It Up" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Reco ...

. It was released in August 2017 as the first single from his 2017 album ''

What Makes You Country ''What Makes You Country'' is the sixth studio album by American country music singer Luke Bryan. It was released on December 8, 2017, by Capitol Nashville. The album includes the singles " Light It Up", "Most People Are Good", " Sunrise, Sunburn, ...

''. Bryan wrote this song with Brad Tursi of the band

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

Content

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' Country described the song as "a moody production, underpinned by a programmed beat and choppy piano chords, while icy synthesizer fills lifted from Eighties new wave ratchet up the tension." The song is an expression of

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep and pure affection, or may consciously reject it. The Merriam Webster Online Dic ...

, with the narrator pleading for an unresponsive lover to "light it up", in reference to his

cellular phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

. Bryan wrote the song with Brad Tursi of the band

, while Jeff Stevens and his son Jody produced it.

Music video

A video directed by Michael Monaco was released on October 26, 2017. It features

Jimmy Butler Jimmy Butler III (born September 14, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Jimmy Buckets", he is a six-time NBA All-Star, a four-time All-NBA Team honore ...

in the lead role, in anticipation of a text as described in the lyrics.

Chart performance

For the charts dated September 9, 2017, "Light It Up" debuted at No. 20 on

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

and No. 21 on

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

. It sold 18,000 downloads in under two days and debuted at No. 3 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart. The following week it rose to No. 2 on Country Digital Song Sales with 22,000 copies sold on a full week of sales. It also debuted at number 76 on the US ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart for the week of September 16, 2017. The song has sold 164,000 copies in the United States as of January 2018. On March 5, 2019, the single was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for sales of over a million digital copies in the United States.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs Luke Bryan songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Songs written by Luke Bryan Songs written by Brad Tursi