Country celebrity Jason Aldean is responding to the criticism surrounding his newest single, which has been topic to much more controversy because the current launch of its music video.
Aldean’s single, Try That in a Small Town, was launched in May. On the floor, it has the makings of a frequent nation hit, with themes of small cities, weapons and rugged self-sufficience.
“Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences,” Aldean wrote in a proof on Twitter Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning in Australia).
Watch the video above.
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However, critics have come up onerous towards some lyrics that they are saying evoke, as one commenter put it, a “modern lynching song.”
Lyrics embody: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough / Well, try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own / You cross that line, it won’t take long / For you to find out, I recommend you don’t / Try that in a small town.”
“There is no non-racialised way to write a song about lynching,” Jacqui Lewis, a religion chief and podcaster, wrote on Twitter. “When Jason Aldean sings, ‘See how far ya make it down the road,’ it invokes a very particular legacy.”
Other commenters pointed out the lyrics additionally name to thoughts “sundown towns,” or communities that exclude or goal individuals of color with threats or violence.
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The track additionally references a frequent piece of anti-gun laws rhetoric: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s–t might fly in the city, good luck.”
CNN has reached out to Aldean’s representatives for remark.
While singing about weapons is definitely not unusual in nation songs of any period, some listeners thought the lyrics had been a bit puzzling given Aldean’s tragic historical past with gun violence. (Aldean is not credited as a author on the track.)
The entertainer was performing on the Route 91 Music Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a gunman shot repeatedly into the gang, killing 58 individuals and injuring a whole bunch extra. The incident is the deadliest mass capturing in American historical past. Afterward, Aldean spoke out about his emotional expertise and expressed an openness for extra gun management legal guidelines. He acknowledged the mass capturing in his social media assertion Tuesday (Wednesday in Australia), noting, “NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.”
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The controversy over Try That in a Small Town reached a new stage with the current music video launch for the track. Some viewers noticed scenes in the video had been shot in entrance of what seems to be the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. The courthouse has been the positioning of a number of incidents of racial violence, together with the 1927 lynching of a Black man named Henry Choate. It additionally served as a backdrop for the Columbia Race Riot in 1946. (Aldean himself was born and raised in Macon, a mid-sized metropolis in central Georgia.)
Some commenters referred to as the situation a “dog whistle”
“Clearly you know NOTHING about the history of that building and lynching,” another replied.
Several outstanding voices have added their ideas to the controversy, together with gun management activist Shannon Watts and TV legend LeVar Burton.
Fans of Aldean defended the selection of location for the music video, saying it was likely a coincidence. Others outright applauded the brand new track.
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Conservative influencer Greg Price referred to as the music video “epic” and stated it “rips into the left-wing riots, soft on crime governance in cities, gun control, and other leftist degradation.”
Aldean responded to the criticism in his newest tweet, denying claims of prejudice and what he referred to as “pro lynching” themes.
“These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” he wrote on Twitter. “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it – and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage – and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music – this one goes too far.”
He continued, saying the track is meant to be a name for unity.
“My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to – that’s what this song is about.”
Aldean has been a fixture in the nation music pantheon for years, and is amongst modern nation radio’s most-played voices. This controversy comes at a time when nation music itself is evolving, with extra various acts hitting the mainstream and large stars talking out in help of racial justice, LGBTQ rights and different social points.
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