How Jason Aldean’s 'Small Town' became a right-wing anthem
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2023
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
Today on “Post Reports,” we explore the controversy around Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” – and how the song landed near the top of the charts. Critics say its new music video is full of coded threats against Black people.
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Country music star Jason Aldean is facing immense backlash over “Try That in a Small Town,” which soared in popularity even as the music video was pulled from Country Music Television amid the controversy. While Aldean is defending the video onstage and on social media, it was quietly edited to remove images of a Black Lives Matter protest after critics accused the song of containing coded threats against Black people. Aldean’s label said the video was edited for copyright reasons but did not elaborate.
The Post’s Herb Scribner explains how the controversy has fueled the song’s popularity.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Billboard's Hot 100 chart is still one of the big measures of who has a hit song in |
| 0:07.0 | this country, and it includes all genres. |
| 0:11.5 | One song that sits in the number two slot on the Hot 100 is a country song. |
| 0:19.9 | The song you're hearing is called Try That in a Small Town. |
| 0:24.2 | It's sung by country music star Jason Aldean. |
| 0:28.0 | When it came out back in May, it wasn't necessarily a right-of-way hit. |
| 0:33.8 | Things changed when the video for the song came out earlier this month. |
| 0:40.8 | Country music star Jason Aldean is defending his controversial music video after it was |
| 0:46.0 | pulled from rotation on CMT. |
| 0:48.5 | Critics say the song is racist and claim the video is pro lynching. |
| 0:55.8 | Not only has this song nearly topped the Billboard Hot 100, it's gotten 20 million views |
| 1:01.2 | on YouTube, and the sales and streams keep piling up. |
| 1:08.3 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:12.6 | I'm Jordan Riesmith, and I'm your guest host today. |
| 1:16.1 | It's Monday, July 31st. |
| 1:19.1 | Today on the show, the Culture War Boost. |
| 1:22.3 | How did a country song that had little fanfare start surging in popularity? |
| 1:27.6 | A song that critics are saying is full of coded threats against black people. |
| 1:34.0 | Breaking news features reporter Herb Scribner is going to walk us through it. |
| 1:46.6 | So as I said earlier, this song didn't really land when it came out. |
| 1:51.2 | But Herb, what changed exactly? |
| 1:54.3 | Well, happen was this music video came out, and it's got Jason Aldean singing, guitar |
... |
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