LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jason Aldean has found himself embroiled in controversy once again after the music video of his song, ‘Try That in a Small Town’, was released. The visuals of the song have been accused of being against the Black Lives Matter protests and problematic since it reportedly showed flag burning, violence and conflicts between cops and protestors.
The video, directed by Shaun Silva, reportedly drew flak after many claimed it was like a “dog whistle”, a “modern lynching song” and “pro-lynching." Chris Willman of Variety reportedly called out the 46-year-old country music star by stating, “For Aldean, it’s about how tiny burgs are under the imminent threat of attack from lawless urban marauders who will have to be kept at bay by any means necessary – meaning, pretty explicitly, vigilantism.”
Journalist Matthew Chapman tweeted that the video song “absolutely captures everything about the American Right, from the paranoid threats of violence, to the irrational fetishization of communities where everyone acts and thinks the same, to the fact that the singer, in fact, grew up in a city.”
Where was Jason Aldean's controversial video shot?
The Independent reported that the song included a Tennessee Heritage building, named the Maury County Courthouse, in Columbia. The place is controversial because of its past. In 1927, a Black teenaged boy named Henry Choate was lynched by a mob there after being accused of assaulting a White teenaged girl. Also, the courthouse was the place where a Columbia race riot took place in 1946.
The video begins with a Fox News chyron that reads, “State of emergency declared in Georgia.” The video then showed Aldean singing, “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough. Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck / Try that in a small town.”
‘This one goes too far’
However, the ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ singer has defended his new song and posted a tweet on Tuesday, July 18. He wrote, “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. These references are not only meritless but dangerous.”
Aldean continued, “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.”
Aldean explained, “Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to 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," adding, “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.”
