What Next - Jason Aldean’s “Dog-Whistle Anthem”
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 July 2023
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Country music’s Jason Aldean has been around for years. But he didn’t crack the Billboard Top 5 until he released “Try That in a Small Town” – a controversial hit that portrays American city living as a gauntlet of violence and crime. CMT pulled down the song’s video, which featured Aldean singing at a former lynching site. But “Try That” is more popular than ever. Why? And what does its ubiquity say about modern country music?
Guest: Jason Lipshutz, senior director of music at Billboard
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
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| 1:45.4 | I get a question for you. What's your summer anthem? |
| 1:49.8 | Is it Olivia Rodrigo's vampire? Maybe you've still got Miley Cyrus's flowers on repeat. |
| 1:56.1 | But I called up Jason Lipschitz over a billboard to talk about a very different chart topper. |
| 2:09.2 | This is Country Music star Jason Aldean's Try That in a Small Town. And this week, |
| 2:15.1 | it debuted at number two on billboards Hot 100. |
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