Jason Aldean has come under fire for his song 'Try That In A Small Town' - but despite the backlash, it has debuted at number two in the charts.
The music video for the controversial song was released on July 14, though the tune was released in May and has since become the subject of intense debate.
The video was filmed at the historic Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, which was the location where Black teenager Henry Choate was lynched in 1927.
In addition, Aldean has been accused of taking aim at the Black Lives Matter movement as the lyrics express that the riots which took place following the killing of George Floyd in 2020 would not take place "in a small town," similar to where the singer was raised.
Though it turns out that the saying is true, there is no such thing as bad publicity, because the song has done very well in the charts.
Coming in at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, there is evidently a demand for the song - or people are flocking to see what the fuss is about.
Some of the lyrics mention actions like "car-jacking an old lady", pulling "out a gun on the owner of a liquor store" and "cussing out a cop", all of which supposedly would not happen in small towns.
Sheryl Crow recently took to Twitter to slam the song and addressed Aldean directly, expressing that she is from a small town and her experiences differ.
She wrote: "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."
Aldean is aware of the controversy surrounding his song and released a statement justifying the lyrics used.
"In the past 24 hours, I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests," he wrote.
Adding that the references are "meritless" and "dangerous", he explained that the song was intended to reflect "the feeling of a community that I had growing up" and argued that it contained no references to race. He also highlighted that the video clips were authentic news footage.
Aldean went on: "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 also went as far as to pause a recent performance to slam cancel culture in the wake of the backlash too.
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