

Businessman says 'big victimhood' played a role in boosting popularity of 'Try That In A Small Town'

A businessman shared his theory on why country singer Jason Aldean's song "Try That In A Small Town" has become a mega hit across the United States: "Big victimhood" was at play in the song's popularity.
Josh Cadillac, a business expert, suspected that the controversy generated by the song seems to stem from the discourse of people on the internet, including social media influencers and media outlets. Through this, people online are benefiting financially by producing content that pits people against each other, creating internet discourse, Cadillac said on Fox News Digital.
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"There's a new player in town called 'big victimhood,'" Cadillac said. "You know, there's big agro and Big Pharma and all those folks we're supposed to worry about. But there's 'big victimhood.' Creating people, turning them into victims, and making them hyperaware of being a victim has become big business. It just, it's been a huge money stream and a huge, huge method to achieve power for people."
Cadillac's comments come after "Try That In A Small Town" was criticized last week by college professors, with one of them saying the song's music video "just reinforced that anger that is in so much of America today, that big division." Philip Ewell, a professor of music theory at Hunter College, expressed similar criticisms and argued the song is full of "anti-blackness" rhetoric.
Business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for president in 2024 as a Republican candidate, described the difference between victimhood and hardship during an appearance on a podcast and how while hardship happens to everyone, not everyone has to choose to be a victim. The presidential candidate said that when he was younger, his father endured hardships through his work, but that he learned through example from his father.
"You don't choose your hardship, but you do choose victimhood," Ramaswamy said. "You can choose not to be a victim, and hardship is not the same thing as victimhood."
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"Try That In A Small Town" was removed from Country Music Television's rotation in mid-July but has since become widely popular. Recently, the song took the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 and was joined by Morgan Wallen's "Last Night" in second on the list and Luke Combs's cover of the Tracy Chapman 1988 hit "Fast Car" in third. It marks the first time in the chart's history that three country music songs sit atop the list.
In late July, the song's music video was edited to remove television footage of the Black Lives Matter riots from 2020. Fox contacted the song's production company and asked it to remove six seconds of footage to avoid any legal action, according to a report by TMZ.