The controversy around the country singer Jason Aldean’s latest single, whose lyrics and video feature threats of violence toward police protesters, has boosted its profile.
In the week since backlash to the song brewed online and amid fellow country artists, streams of Aldean’s Try That in a Small Town have risen 999%, from 987,000 to 11.7m, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sales of the song have also increased from 1,000 last week to 228,000, according to the music data company Luminate.
Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the music video, which intersperses footage of protesters facing off against police with Aldean’s performance at a Tennessee courthouse known for the 1927 lynching of a Black man, from its channel on Tuesday, with no explanation for the decision. It had about 350,000 views on Youtube at the time; now, views have topped 16m.
Aldean released the song, which he did not write, in May, but the video premiered on 14 July. The video has been criticized for including images of violent anti-police protesters, promoting gun violence and taking aim at the Black Lives Matter movement. The song’s lyrics include the lines: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, you think you’re tough / Well, try that in a small town / See how far you make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own.”
The lyrics also allude to a conspiracy theory that the US government plans to round up its citizens’ guns: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck.”
Critics of the song include the musician Sheryl Crow, who wrote on Twitter: “I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence. There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.” Crow referred to the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, in which a gunman opened fire during Aldean’s set at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in October 2017. Sixty people were killed and 867 injured; Aldean and his band escaped unharmed.
As backlash brewed, Aldean defended the song on Twitter, saying it “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”. He also rebutted claims that it targeted the Black Lives Matter movement as “not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it.”
He doubled down while performing over the weekend, and partially blamed “cancel culture”. During a concert at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Friday, the 46-year-old singer reflected on his “long-ass week”: “I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that. Here’s the thing, here’s one thing I feel: I feel like everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true, right?
“What I am is a proud American,” he continued. “I’m proud to be from here. I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us. I love our country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that. I can tell you that right now.”
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To cheers and chants of “USA”, Aldean also lamented “cancel culture” as being “something that, if people don’t like what you say, they try to make sure they can cancel you, which means try to ruin your life, ruin everything”. He added that “one thing I saw this week was a bunch of country music fans that could see through a lot of the bullshit, all right? I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before and it was pretty badass to watch, I gotta say.”
Besides some country music fans, figures such as Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis have voiced support for Aldean and the song.