Country singer Jason Aldean is reflecting on the massive popularity of his song, “Try That in a Small Town.”
The single made waves when the music video was released in July, with many legacy outlets calling the song “racist” and “pro-lynching,” among other complaints. The video showed clips of violent riots and looting which took place during the summer of 2020. But at the same time, it shot up the charts and became extremely popular.
Now Aldean is thinking about the potential reasons for the song being such a success.
“I just think there’s a lot of people out there that just want to go to work and come home, raise their kids, feel comfortable about sending their kids to school and knowing that they’re going to come home,” the 46-year-old Georgia native said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. “Or let their kids go to a movie on a weekend and not worry about something crazy happening to them in the parking lot or inside a movie theater.”
“It’s just we’re kind of living in the Wild West right now, and I think people are just kind of tired of it,” he continued. “There’s just constant chaos and something going on. Somebody is always pissed off about something, and it’s just one of those songs where there’s a lot of people that could relate to that because they’re just sick of it.”
Aldean told the outlet how the lyrics reflect his own experience growing up, saying this kind of “chaos” won’t “fly” in a typical small town.
“You just happen to see more, in my opinion, in larger towns where it’s a little more lawless and I don’t know, it’s the Wild West to me,” the country star added.
“I think there’s a lot of people out there that kind of felt the same way and I don’t know that I feel like that’s the reason, but I truly don’t. I don’t really know,” he said of the single’s success.
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Aldean speculated that many people may be scared to speak up for fear of retribution.
“People are kind of scared to say something a lot of times out of fear or losing a job or losing friends or losing. Maybe they’re not going to get work again or whatever it is,” he said. “People tend to hop on the side that’s just politically correct, and it may be politically correct, but it’s not right. Like, it’s just not, you know what I’m saying?”
The singer mentioned how he expresses his views on social issues through his music, which is where he connects with fans, too.
Aldean’s new album, “Highway Desperado,” which includes “Try That in a Small Town” as one of the featured tracks, is scheduled to be released November 3.