Koe Wetzel's 'Hurts Like You' Hits The Airwaves

Official Announcement | Published: May 26, 2026 3:01 PM EDT

(EBM) Koe Wetzel charges back to Country Radio this week with "Hurts Like You," the lead single from his highly anticipated sixth studio album, The Night Champion, arriving June 12 via Columbia Records.

"Hurts Like You" follows a landmark radio run for Wetzel's Double-Platinum certified "High Road" featuring Jessie Murph, which spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 and became the most-played song at Country Radio for all of 2025.

Written by Wetzel alongside Ashley Gorley, Steph Jones, Carrie K and producer Gabe Simon, the jaggedly propulsive "Hurts Like You" offers the raw intensity fans expect, but with a vulnerability and surrender to desires that cut you open.

I'll walk through fire
If it burns like you
Hold me like a knife
Baby cut me right in two
Drag me through the dirt like you always do
I can take the pain if it hurts like you

"'Hurts Like You' was one of the first songs that we wrote for the record," Wetzel recalls. "It's kind of about a toxic relationship; whenever you get into those situations, you know it's not good for you, but there's just something about it that keeps bringing you back. It's hard to get away from. I feel like a lot of people go through that, so I hope people can relate to the way that we felt about it."

Critics are already embracing the track's sharp-edged energy and crossover appeal, with VICE praising the song as "an alt-rock revival... the Texas-born rocker blends Country & Western with post-grunge in a way that scratches so many itches. 'Hurts Like You' has grit, but never sacrifices melody. It's relentlessly catchy, but it still has balls."

Set for release June 12, The Night Champion captures the aftermath of a wild run, delivering all the signature force, punch and ragged details people expect, tempered by the clarity that comes with surviving it. Turning chaos, excess and hard-earned perspective into something built to endure, The Night Champion fuses all that's happened since Wetzel first hit the road with a van and the drive to see how far he could take it.

"It's a continuation of 9 Lives, from that record to now," Wetzel offers of the follow-up to his globally connecting release. "Really, it's everything that's happened - because you don't go from kids playing for beer to headlining Red Rocks, arenas all over the country, partying and trying to make sense of it all and not shift. My head space is clearer now. I can look back, see how it fits together. It doesn't make sense, exactly, but it all happened. That search for what it all means keeps bringing me back."

Whether fans were there from those first nights in Texas, the wake of his indie breakout Noise Complaint or found the music during last year's radio rush, The Night Champion is built to offer a sense of all the phases as it brings the disparate audiences together. "I'm not torn between the worlds," Wetzel notes of the convergence. "This is where all the fans meet. No matter when they got here, this is that moment."

Pollstar's "firebrand live sensation" is also bringing the new music to fans across the globe with The Night Champion World Tour, having recently wrapped his Australia run with dates across the U.S. and Canada to come. Shane Smith & The Saints, Ole 60, Wyatt Flores, Corey Kent, Wade Bowen, Bayker Blankenship, Kolby Cooper and Logan Jahnke join as support in varying combinations.