Jason Aldean’s new music video for his song “Try That In A Small Town,” with anti-riot lyrics that slam leftist policies, has skyrocketed to the number one spot on the iTunes chart amid backlash against the singer.
The 46-year-old country singer’s song hit the airwaves in May, but it wasn’t until he released a video for it on July 14 that the song started generating headlines claiming it was “racist,” “pro-lynching,” and more. Following the backlash, Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the singer’s music video and has yet to respond as to why. Aldean has hit back against the criticism, calling it “meritless” and “dangerous.”
After the song was pulled and Aldean’s response, the ballad ended up shooting to the top of the all-genre chart, knocking out current chart toppers like Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ remake of Tracy Chapmans’ “Fast Car,” Whiskey Riff reported.
The song also jumped from the 11th spot to number one by Tuesday night on the iTunes Country Top 40 chart, Billboard noted.
On Tuesday, the country star hit back at the criticism and released a lengthy statement on Twitter, slamming the idea the song is anything but a cry for Americans to come back together.
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“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,” Aldean tweeted. “These references are not only meritless, but dangerous.”
“There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far,” he added.
The country star wrote that this song is about the “feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences.”
He concluded his post by noting how his “political views” are well known, but this song is about the “desire” to get back to some “sense of normalcy.”
At the time of this publication, the video is still playing on YouTube and has been viewed 2.1 million times. Throughout the new music video, clips of news reports show looters and rioters during the 2020 riots that took place in Aldean’s native home of Georgia, Yahoo.com noted.
Related: Jason Aldean Responds To Backlash Over New Music Video That Slams Leftist Policies