Who Is the “Guy” in Post Malone and Luke Combs’ Heartbreaking Anthem? Behind the Meaning of “Guy for That”

Little by little Post Malone takes the country landscape by storm with his forthcoming genre debut F1-Trillion. His newest Luke Combs collab, “Guy For That,” certainly won’t be throwing him off his current trajectory. Aside from his collaborations with Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton, the eighth track on the album has brought the most attention during his short country career.

This can be attributed to Malone and Combs being seen on Broadway filming the music video for the song. Snippets revealed from this teaser were not only the two having a ball, but also some of the lyrics present on Malone’s third country track.

Now with the full track released, let’s see what Combs and Malone are offering up.

More Broken Hearts

Similar to “I Had Some Help,” Malone continues with the theme of a broken heart in his piece. I’m pretty good at breaking down a heart / But picking up the pieces is the hard part, are the first two lines of the chorus. She’s searchin’ for someone who’s gonna build it back / But I ain’t got a guy for that, close out the chorus and thematic thought.

At first glance, the chorus reads like most heart-broken country songs. The speaker of the song has lost love due to their own actions and can’t seemingly repair it. A timeless lesson we’ve heard over the decades, but one that never gets old due to its cliche honesty.

However, Malone and Combs don’t just bank on a broken heart to write the song for them. Instead, they take a freshly nuanced approach to create a piece of pop-country music fans haven’t seen before.

Who is This ‘Guy?’

Both the song title and premier lyrics, this “guy” Malone and Combs speak of does not exist. Which is what makes the tune so tragically wholesome. Starting the song by listing every need they have is covered by a “guy.” Shortly after they acknowledge, I got a guy for every damn thing/ Ooh, that ain’t exactly what I’m lookin’ for.

What they are looking for is Someone to put her tires back in the drive / And if they don’t, then I just might / Lose what’s left of my never lovin’ mind / I’m damn near down to my last dime.

The meaning is short, simple, sweet, and one that everyone can relate to. However, where the true songwriting genius shows itself is with the creativity of the Country genre. We’ve heard songs talking about a guy fixing trucks or a guy helping someone get their fix. We’ve never heard about a guy who can perform acts to save a broken relationship on a metaphorical level.

What Combs and Malone achieve with these lyrics is a reimagining of the genre tropes that live in so many country music songs. In other words, they took a trite idea and turned it into something entirely fresh. Good on them for seeing a creative window and taking the risk to jump through it.

Watch Malone and Combs take on Broadway for the music video below:

(Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for Spotify)