Is That Jason Aldean? Turn Off The Radio

Ever since that scandal blew up last year about Jason Aldean cheating on his wife on a drunken night out I knew I had to write this article. A few years ago, when there was this huge buzz about him, I decided to get in on the action and downloaded ‘Wide Open’ and then ‘My Kinda Party’ later to really get up to speed on this new superstar of the moment in country music. At the time, although I’d been listening to country for a few years, I’d only listened to a select group of artists and hadn’t done a lot of exploring, so I was fairly new to the sound Jason was producing. So for that reason, I enjoyed the majority of the songs that I heard, they were a good jam, with ‘Wide Open’ leaning to more commercial sounds, and ‘My Kinda Party’ taking it one step further in the country rock terrain, but still remaining pretty commercial. There are a couple of songs that are definitely worth listening to, and I would say that even now.

However: It got to a point where I began to get frustrated with Jason’s music. I suddenly realised that his songs, they were all the same, in one way or another. The majority of the songs, about country pride, but pitched in a kind of alpha-masculinity that feels a little aggressive. I realized that his singing doesn’t feel friendly, and that this enhanced his music in a way that made his heavily patriarchal songs appear slightly menacing. The phallic imagery in ‘Big Green Tractor’ doesn’t sound cheeky like someone such as Luke Bryan could make it, but instead to me feels threatening and creepy. His use of words, in addition, appear as ‘buzzwords’, as if they’re token words designed to present him as country. There is so much of the same intense country pride theme that it feels almost novelty and inauthentic.

In conjunction with this, I realized something even more fundamental about his songs – the portrayal of women. All the women in his songs are ‘pretty little things’. They’re things to drive to see on the porch, just out the shower, drinking sweet tea (just like women are supposed to do apparently, you wouldn’t get a song like ‘This I Gotta See’ about a man), they’re things to watch dance in their little shorts, get drunk and then take back to sleep with. Even with the more relationship-type songs, all the women are just the pretty, silent woman in his house, on his arm. They’re not powerful women, they’re not complicated women, they don’t have a personality or an attitude they are just there, a face and body, loving him or wanting him. Now admittedly I have not listened to a lot of ‘Night Train’, so I don’t know what the song topics are like and whether they are better in that department, but as a woman I feel a little bit insulted. There’s enough patriarchy in country music already without songs like this. I know it’s not utterly confined to Jason but usually other country stars tend to have a bit more of a variety.

I listened to ‘Night Train’ once or twice through when it was released back in October, under the impression Jason had given in an interview that it would not be ‘My Kinda Party pt. 2’. Well I don’t know whether I wasn’t listening properly, but it certainly felt like it WAS a part 2 to me. It didn’t feel any less aggressive, or musically different than his previous records, and I wasn’t up for listening further just to potentially prove myself right. In essence, it is a combination of ‘Wide Open’, and ‘My Kinda Party’, but feels even less country, if that were possible. I think we can all be honest in that Jason was never your most country-sounding artist, but I feel like ‘Night Train’, apart from sticking with some similar themes (though with a heavier emphasis on generic love and heartbreak songs rather than so much of country pride), doesn’t even try. Like he’s taking his position for granted.

For me, the album could easily be classified as ‘alternative’ ‘rock’ or ‘pop/rock’ if it were from a new artists being listened on iTunes. If they knew nothing about Jason, if the slate were clean, there is no way he would be pronounced as country unless it had been specifically requested. Now this isn’t uncommon in Nashville so I’m not going to draw on this too much, but it just adds to the overall situation. In addition, we have Jason’s assumption that because ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ was a hit, that he can rap. No Jason. ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ was a hit because Brantley Gilbert wrote it. You’re a shocking rapper and should never ever rap again.

So amongst the aggressive vibe, country ‘buzzwords’, terrible portrayal of women, songs all sounding the same, a lack of actual country music, and some shocking rapping, we then have the news that Jason, while drunk and on a night out, cheated on his wife with some ex-American Idol contestant named Brittany Kerr (who was 11 years his junior). It wasn’t just that he publicly humiliated his wife, but he called it “really embarrassing I think, more than anything”. You don’t feel embarrassed when you cheat on your wife, who you’ve promised in vows your lifelong fidelity to, and created two lives with. You feel incredibly guilty and distraught, I would have thought. I can imagine his wife was certainly extremely upset and betrayed, and will probably find it hard it trust him for a long time. To add to this, he never publicly apologized to his wife, he just said “we’re doing okay”, and everything he said about it sounded as if they’d suffered a close family loss. Not that he’d totally messed up and been an asshole. In fact, all his statements about the whole thing made him seem like even more of an asshole than I already knew he was. The rumors of Jason cheating whilst on tour are unconfirmed, but after this scandal a few months ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were true.

Everything about the scandal was shameful and made me lose all respect for a man I didn’t much respect for to begin with. So where do I stand now with Jason? I think he’s had his peak for sure. Naturally he will continue to release albums and win the odd award but we’ve already seen recently that Luke Bryan appears to be taking his place in reigning mainstream male superstar of country music. And personally I FAR prefer Luke Bryan, whose songs are more fun, catchier, more heartfelt, actually written by him, and he’s actually nice to look at and feels a lot kinder and more genuine than Jason.

Crux of the argument? Jason, you’ve had your day. You’re boring, annoying and you don’t seem like the nicest of people. Now please remove yourself from my radio.

Posted by Vickye (Guest Writer).
If you want to check out my own blog it's For The Country Record, and you can follow me on twitter @planmymistake. You can email me at vickye.countrymusic@gmail.com.

Comments

[Jessica]

Where was Jason's wife at the 2013 ACM Awards last night? Doesn't she always attend with him? I have yet to see anyone mention it.

[Jessica]

Where was Jason's wife at the 2013 ACM Awards last night? Doesn't she always attend with him? I have yet to see anyone mention it.

[Go Jason]

Don't be a hater Jason is the bomb. Judging people is for God not us. Not my business or your business about his life his voice rocks. And your websites sucks!!!

[Jeffrey Thomas]

Just came back to see if you would post my comments. Not surprised that they never saw the light of day. If you are going to make stupid statements, be prepared for the backlash. Better yet, find something you know to write about.

[Michelle Hampton]

I don't agree. For one BG has stated that Jason helped out his career by recording his songs. Lots of artists don't write their own music. Look at George Strait, Tim Mcgraw, even Blake Shelton they haven't wrote all their hits. About the whole scandal: I think everybody needs to move on and let him and his family heal. It's none of our business what goes on at their home. I'm sure he did apologize to his wife. Why does he need to let us know that he apologized?

[Jeffrey Thomas]

P.S. If Aldean sang about his "Big Red Tractor",
would that be even more obscene? Or perhaps he has an Allis Chalmers, rather than a John Deere!
Good Grief!

[Jeffrey Thomas]

Wow! Big Green Tractor is "phallic" huh? That may be one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever seen in print. Why are you trying to write about country music, when you obviously know nothing about country LIVING! Came across your post by accident, don't worry, it won't happen again!

[Michelle]

Wow! Please remove yourself from my computer! What a total idiot!

[Jack]

Personally, I think neither Brantley Gilbert or Jason Aldean got any business being called country...they abunch of rockers who couldn't make it in rock & roll.

In fact I think about half the people being fawned over by the writers of this website, couldn't have handled ANY country star of the past's undies. (going to ditch this too, last comment got dumped)...guessing it's your toy Brit and you decide who gets a voice, well remember 1776 y'all told us we had no rights we kicked y'all out

[cat et]

This is a very good website. I agree that one of the best writer I read. Thanks for posting this nice article.

[Sara]

HAHAHA! AWESOME!

[Jamie Dee]

"For me, the album could easily be classified as ‘alternative’ ‘rock’ or ‘pop/rock’ if it were from a new artists being listened on iTunes. If they knew nothing...if the slate were clean, there is no way he would be pronounced as country unless...specifically requested."

That's 'country music' for ya. It's all starting to sound the same.

[Mary Katherine]

Thank you for a refreshing dose of honesty from a female country music lover. I've been conflicted on how much I really liked him and his music from the start, and he still vacillates between 'ick' and 'okay' with me. So many women I know think he is a lot hotter than I ever did. I don't hate him, but he is far from my favorites list.

[MichelleHampto]

Why does he have to apologize to his wife publicly? He asked for privacy for him and his family to deal with it. I'm sure he did behind closed doors. We don't know how their marriage is anyways. I'm sure it is hard for his wife and she sure doesn't need people to keep bringing it up and writing articles about it months later. She's the one who has to live with him so it's really none of our business.

[Cherile Berrio]

I totally agree! My thoughts exactly.

[OneTiredTattooedMomma]

Well said.

[Hunter]

I completely disagree, at the end of the day, what makes an artist great is how good the music sounds, and hearing Jason's music its catchy with great rhymes and is easy to sing along to. His rock edge is something that he has mastered and is very popular with his audience. In reference to "sexist" lyrical content, sometimes songs arent always about having a complicated relationship and its about having a good time. The females in his songs are being admired for their looks (nothing wrong with that) by people who want to have a good time. That is partly what country music is about...rednecks, you might not like it, but it is, and that wont change, because those people make up a large percentage of country radio listeners. Also, Jason Aldean gets a lot of criticism for not writing his own songs, but Brantley Gilbert was happy to see his songs cut by Aldean and if anything, it provided a platform for his own career. Jason has a superb singing voice and is a terrific guitar player and entertainer, shown by the thousands that turn out to his concerts. So do you think that because he can't write, his other talents should go to waste? And as for the Kerr scandal, Jason is a big star and had a girl coming onto him in a club, its hard to refuse. I agree that he has a bit of an attitude, but that's part of his country boy charm but he did actually apologize to his wife
Anyway, ultimately its your opinion, and you are welcome to turn the radio off everytime Aldean comes on, but you'll be doing it for the next 20 years.