So here is the disclaimer: I have not listened to Jason Aldean‘s new song “Try That in a Small Town”, nor do I listen to Morgan Wallen. I am generally not a fan of that style of country music, so this article is not a review of whether I think their songs are good or not, nor is it an endorsement of condemnation of their songs.
Like any rational human being, I don’t think the “N” word should said by Morgan Wallen or any other white person. Likewise, I abhor any kind of hate speech, calls for violence or lynching. The argument about what Jason Aldean is saying in his new song is also not why I’m writing. I’m writing because the song has led to a loud outcry, with condemnation coming from many places, including other musicians such as Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell and Adeem the Artist. And all of that has…helped give Jason Aldean one of the biggest song debuts of his career.
Lets turn back the clock to when Morgan Wallen was “canceled” for a minute, as that is about how long it seemed to last. While he got some rightful flack for his stupid choice to party during Covid, losing him his spot on SNL (temporarily) and leading him to do a mea culpa skit when he would eventually land the gig, this was only a dimple in his career compared to the crater that came after he was shown on video using the “N” word. Now from what I recall, he was using it in a stupid, drunken call to a friend, and not in a hateful way towards a black person. While that context will be irrelevant to many, I think it does matter to some extent. He also apologized for his use of the word. But let’s look at what happened to Morgan…
Radio stations dropped him from rotation. He was dropped from his contract and suspended by his label. He basically became a pariah to everyone. Except his fans. His fans doubled down hard. His album shot back up the charts and continue to sell as well as ever.
The attempt to completely cancel Morgan Wallen was a call to arms to his country-loving, right-leaning audience, and played right into the culture wars’ hands. Just like how a book shoots to the top of the Amazon charts when people on the right try to ban it in schools, the audience for Wallen seemed to go to bat for their guy not despite what he said and the fervor around it, but in spite of it. His new album has become the biggest album of the year, with numerous singles from it hitting the Billboard charts. Call it the “own the libs” mentality, but country fans will not let anyone they consider left-wing tell them who they should or shouldn’t listen to, and will put their money where their mouths are. And this is when we get to Jason Aldean.
Again let me repeat – I have not listened to the song or watched the video. I have read the lyrics online. I have heard some of the arguments as to why the track is offensive and I am not here to invalidate anyone’s feelings towards the song. I am here to say that your attempts to tear down Aldean and the song have failed miserably. And it is your fault, as you sabotaged your goal simply by making it clear to the world.
Aldean and his wife are open members of the MAGA nation (I do not know his specific political opinions), and if the last seven years since Donald Trump won and then lost the presidency have taught us anything, it’s that our society is beyond polarized. Facts and truths don’t matter to some people. It’s the forever question of “are they on my side or the other side”, and those on the extremes will defend their side no matter what. And in this case, having a lot of musicians go after Aldean for his song and what it says and stands for has only galvanized Aldean’s fans, and likely created more broad awareness of the song to the types of people who are supporting it simply because it’s offending the “other” side who are criticizing it. Much like how Donald Trump raises money whenever he receives another indictment, Aldean is reaping the benefits of people dunking on him because of the content of the song.
Now it should be noted that Aldean has said the track is not about lynching, and for many of his fans I’m sure that is good enough. We all have the freedom to interpret songs how we would like, though it’s impossible to read the lyrics and not sense they are encouraging some type of aggressive action against those who don’t stand for the same things as Aldean (or whomever wrote the song, since I believe Aldean is not a credited writer on it).
So the ultimate point of this article is that if you don’t like something and want it to go away quickly – don’t talk about it. Do not give it any press or attention. Especially in this age, when people will literally do the opposite of what someone on the other side of the aisle tells them to do, the best thing you can do when a song like “Try That in a Small Town” comes around is to pretend it doesn’t exist. Some people and songs can’t be canceled (Hell, even Kanye’s albums are continuing to sell and get him gold singles, despite the man unequivocally becoming an anti-semite and attacking the Jews, which generally is something both sides will publicly condemn) no matter how legitimate the reasons are for condemning the artist. And this seems to go double in the country community, which generally leans right and embraces culture wars as they are usually easier to fight than more nuanced topics of conflict.
Of course if you’re a country band of three women who speak out against a Republican president, then you will for sure be canceled in the country community. But that’s an exception to the rule.
The Indy Review 