Country music star Jason Aldean slammed critics for calling his hit ‘Try That In a Small Town’ a ‘lynching song’ – and claimed there were ‘people of all colours’ in his music video featuring BLM riots.
Aldean, 46, defended the song and music video in his first network news interview about the controversy.
“There were people of all colors doing things in the video. That’s what I don’t understand,” he said CBS News. “There were white people in it. There were black people. I mean, this video didn’t shine a light on any specific group and say, “That’s the problem.”
“And if anyone saw that in the video, you didn’t look close enough in the video, that’s all I can tell you.”
The song faced heavy backlash over the summer for its controversial music video and lyrics, which interlaced clips of BLM protesters destroying cities with lyrics endorsing traditional values such as “caring for our own.”
Country music star Jason Aldean slammed critics for calling his hit “Try That In a Small Town” a “lynching song” — and claimed there were “people of all colors” in his BLM riot music video (Aldean is pictured at the CMA Fest 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 9, 2022)
In the music video, Aldean sings in front of a large white area and an American flag, interspersed with fragments of BLM protests
Critics accused the song of glorifying violence and inciting racism, but Aldean denied that the song has any racist connotations.
The video was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, the site of the 1927 lynching of an 18-year-old black man named Henry Choate by a mob and the site of a 1946 race riot.
Speaking about the controversial location, Aldean said: ‘I don’t go back a hundred years to look at the history of a place before we film it.’
‘It’s also the place where I get my car tags every year. It is my province that I live in.’
Aldean also said that in the South it would be virtually impossible to film in a location that did not have a racial issue at some point in history.
“I don’t feel bad about that because I know my intentions behind shooting the video there and recording the song and everything,” he said.
“I would do it again and again… minus the setting, knowing what I know now, of course, you know, knowing that that would be something, you know, maybe you can do it somewhere else,” he said.
In addition to the video, Aldean has been criticized for the song’s lyrics which suggest that “good ol’ boys” from small towns will use the “gun that my grandpa gave me” against car thieves and robbers – as well as those who call “a cop” and ‘stomp on the flag and light it.’
Many have also pointed out the apparent contradiction of Aldean, whose lyrics appear to promote gun ownership and whimsy, despite the singer’s 2017 concert being one of the deadliest mass shootings in history – in which 61 people were shot and more than 400 injured hit.
“I know what the intentions were behind the location, the video, the song, everything. And you know, and I support that,” he told CBS.
‘My pregnant wife was there. Our fans were there and watched the show,” he said. “All hell breaks loose and you’re not prepared, you know, it’s like, ‘I have a guitar, what do I do?’
“I do think it makes you look at things a little differently when you go through something like that,” he added.
Aldean never expected his song to spark so much controversy. He told CBS that he thought he would be criticized if he mentioned the word “gun.”
“I thought the biggest problem with the song would be that it had a gun on it,” Aldean told CBS, referring to the lyrics, “I got a gun that my grandpa gave me.” They say one day they will be arrested.’
“So I didn’t expect it to get as warm as it did,” he said. “And I think that was more likely because of the video than the actual song.”
When Aldean wasn’t showing footage of BLM protests, the divisive music video featured him singing in front of a large white building
The song made repeated references to BLM protests. Pictured: NYPD officers block the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge as protests broke out in New York City on June 2, 2020
The setting for Aldean’s video was considered provocative: Aldean’s team said they were unaware of the history
Jason Aldean’s Video for ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Shows a Flag Being Burned During BLM Protests
In July, Aldean defended his controversial hit at a show in Boston, claiming it wasn’t about race.
He told the crowd at the Mansfield Xfinity Center Saturday night that they can relate to the song because of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, a terrorist attack that resulted in three deaths and more than 260 injuries.
Aldean said the “Boston Strong” mentality — a term used to describe the unity around the city after the bombings — is in sync with the song’s message.
“You guys understand this better than anyone, right?” he asked the audience, in video shared on Twitter.
What happened was a whole – not a small town – a big city coming together, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of anything.”
He added: “This is not about race.
‘It’s about people getting things in order and doing the right thing.’
The night before, Aldean defended the song at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania, arguing that critics wanted to make it “something it wasn’t,” according to PennLive.
He was referring to the six seconds of footage, including Black Lives Matter protest scenes, which he said was removed from the video for legal reasons.
“Everyone can look at it from a different angle,” Aldean told the crowd Friday.
“But the fact that six seconds were taken away doesn’t change what I was trying to say in the video.”
“I don’t care what color you are, or who you are,” he added.
The lyrics of the song begin with descriptions of various violent acts.
The song skyrocketed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time, following controversy over the music video.
Aldean posted on Twitter to celebrate his new song being released to the public on July 14
The controversial song was right behind BTS’s Jung Kook solo single “Seven,” featuring Latto. The track had the biggest sales week for a country song in more than a decade.
According to Luminate, “Try That in a Small Town” reached 11.7 million on-demand audio and video streams between July 14 and 20, a 1,000 percent increase from the previous week.
Prior to the music video’s release on July 14, the track had amassed 987,000 streams in the US.
Sales of digital songs increased from 1,000 to 228,000 respectively in the same weeks.
The music video for the song lasted only one weekend on Country Music Television before the network pulled it in response to outrage over the setting and lyrics. When the network removed the video from rotation, it had racked up 350,000 views on YouTube.
Now that number is now over 16 million and it was the number 1 trending video under the ‘music’ category.
Aldean – who has been named country artist of the decade by the Academy of Country Music – continues to receive fierce criticism online for the video, with some claiming the image is a “dog whistle” and others calling it “pro-lynching.”
“There are no lyrics in the song that refer to or refer to race – and there is not a single music video that is not actual news footage – and while I may try to respect others for having their own interpretation of a song with music, this goes too far,” Aldean wrote in a tweet posted in July.