Jason Aldean’s hit new song “Try That In a Small Town” has skyrocketed to the top of the charts for both songs and music videos, even despite the backlash from the left the song has received. CMT canceled its music video despite the video being a huge hit, Sheryl Crow went on the warpath against it on Twitter, and the usual suspects are slandering the song as being pro-lynching, an accusation Aldean demolished on Twitter.
Well, the woke backlash against the song might have ended up boosting the new song, as it has a reasonable message that many conservatives agree with, which is that rioting and other forms of crime are bad and don’t occur when community members band together and stand up to them.
For example, Aldean sings, “Yeah, ya think you’re tough? Well, try that in a small town, see how far ya make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own, you cross that line, it won’t take long for you to find out, I recommend you don’t.”
That message is one that used to be widely understood across America and is why people knew the members of their community, grew deep roots into it, and stayed armed. So, conservatives love it and so both the message and the song’s excellent production value, have made it very popular, and the backlash to it has drawn attention to it. Now it’s number 1.
Jason Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town" has reached #1 on US iTunes. pic.twitter.com/PXZa31xpp4
— Billboard Charts (@billboardnewsb) July 19, 2023
Further, as the song has become yet another front in the ever-raging culture war fight, it has drawn more and more conservative support, which has likely boosted it yet more. For example, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem jumped in after the backlash began and took Aldean’s side.
She, in a Twitter video, said, “I am shocked by what I’m seeing in this country with people attempting to cancel this song and cancel Jason and his belief. Him and Brittany are outspoken about their love for law and order and for their love of this country and I’m just grateful for them.”
She added that Aldean is welcome to perform in South Dakota any time and that “I think a lot of times people who go out and fight every day on these important issues and have an opinion and remember the freedom and liberty that this country was founded on get persecuted for it and we’re seeing that right now with the Aldean’s and the songwriters that worked so hard on this.”
Noem added, “I just want them to know that we support them, we love them, thank you for writing a song that America can get behind.” Watch her here:
My thoughts on “Try that in a Small Town”…. @Jason_Aldean pic.twitter.com/umJ8qFvy2o
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) July 19, 2023
Joining Noem was Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, who took to Twitter as well. She said, “Cancel culture is the enemy of freedom of expression. I stand with @Jason_Aldean!”
Cancel culture is the enemy of freedom of expression. I stand with @Jason_Aldean!https://t.co/KpTILT7lWy
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 19, 2023
So, as the song has gotten so much free publicity from Republicans, the intended audience for it anyway, it has been boosted even further than its many commendable virtues would have pushed it. Thus, the leftist backlash against it might have backfired and made it much more popular than it otherwise would have been.
Featured image credit: By Dlindner0 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4829144
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