6/26/26 – I gotta be honest – the lyrics for Next Up sat unfinished for a while. Sometimes a song’s words fall into place like Plinko chips – right away. But often finding the right rhymes that also convey the meaning you wanna get across takes work (“up” and “next” have fewer rhyme matches than you’d think for such short, simple words!). This resulted in some more playful language than usual, but sometimes the song goes where it wants.
"I never wanna be that artist who runs out of paint colors and begins to just make the same songs over and over again." - John Mayer
I used to think singer-songwriters (songwriters who perform/record the songs they write) all write lyrics about situations that are true to their life at the exact time they write that song — their “journey,” if you will. Perhaps many still do, but what John Mayer said a few years ago when promoting his album Sob Rock changed my thinking. He said, “the idea of Sob Rock is that it might have been something that already happened, but when you go looking, it’s not . . . The question is, can you have memories of things that might have happened to you but you were too young [to remember details]?” That blew my mind a bit, and opened up the possibilities for my future songwriting. Instead of being self-limited to what’s true in the moment, or precisely and contemporaneously autobiographical, I could start to delve into images of life – vignettes or dreams, even – for inspiration.
Next Up has additional lyrics that I didn’t include – so I sense an Extended Version coming in the future…. Stay tuned for that. Following me on Spotify is the best way to stay updated, and make sure to sign up for my email list too.
Listen to Next Up on Spotify:
Listen to Next Up on AppleMusic & other platforms
Next Up music & lyrics © 2026 Knox Summerour & Knox Drive Music (ASCAP)
Produced, Vocals, Flugelhorn, & Guitar by Knox Summerour
℗ 2026 Knox Summerour & Little Paradise Road
Knox Summerour music | Emmy-Winning Artist | Spotify & Apple Music 