Jason Aldean "Burnin' It Down" Single Review

      I haven’t really torched a song in a while. Lately, a lot of the radio singles have shown some improvement. Luke Bryan and Florida-Georgia Line put out some decent songs. Even the dorkiest goober in country music, Cole Swindell, has a decent new single. But, this song just rubs me the wrong way. Of all the “bro” country singers, Jason Aldean has bothered me the least. At least when he rapped in a country song, it was a little more daring and bold, not fomulamatic and cliché like it is now. And in between his run of the mill party ditties, he has recorded some decent songs like “Fly Over States”, “The Truth”, and “Night Train”. That being said, Jason has really set me a blaze with “Burnin’ It Down”. This song is a pathetic, mind-numbing cry for attention, and needs to be erased from my memory as soon as possible.

      This song is not country. Period. It isn’t debate, or just “my opinion”. This is a pop song with no country instrumentation, no country lyrics, and no country stylings. Sure, the knucklehead singing it has a cowboy hat. So did Bret Michaels. I’ll take Poison (the band and actual liquid poison injected into my veins) over this crap any day. The song wants to be some Barry White-esque slow jam that provides as fodder to baby-making, but it sounds more like two meth-heads hooking up in a dirty motel. It just feels gross. I would love to see the demographic of people that this song is actually sexy to. Scratch that. I’m pretty sure I can log on to People of Walmart and see that. The song is overtly sexual and crass. Whatever happened to subtlety? Conway Twitty could make a girl’s toes curl with his songs, but he never just said “laying there naked in my bed”. That’s just lazy songwriting for dumb people. What kind of idiot writes something like that? If you guess Florida-Georgia Line, you’d be correct! That’s right, the guys who thought “Sun Daze” and “Good Good” were perfectly acceptable songs thought this wasn’t up to their standards enough to record. Nice.

      For a guy in the precarious position that Aldean is in, he’d be wise to put out some generic single to deflect attention away from his affair. I’m not here to run Jason Aldean into the dirt for his personal mistakes. I think he was wrong, and shouldn’t get a free pass, but I know that many famous people have relationship issues. It isn’t an excuse, but there is obviously a trend of famous people having rocky marriages. I think he deserves any criticism he gets, but I think that we ourselves should try to be adults about it. That being said, he has handled this situation completely wrong. Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert had a very public affair, and he sees nowhere near the disdain Aldean does. Why? Because he kept his mouth shut, didn’t respond to the naysayers, and actually recorded some emotional songs that let us see what was going on at the time. Blake’s album Pure BS, recorded in the eye of the storm, is a very raw album with a lot of emotional songs. He handled an embarrassing situation as well as he could. Jason, on the other hand, publically makes excuses, flaunts about his new fiancée while still in the midst of the heat, and gets pissed if anyone doesn’t 100% support his actions. Look, Aldean, not everyone likes it when you cheat on your wife. You being a prick only enhances that anger, not diffuses it. In the middle of this mess, Jason Aldean has done too many whiney interviews, been too thin-skinned, and released a radio single about dirty sex and an album full of party songs. What, you thought he’d bare his soul and quiet some of his demons? Naw, there’s too many hotties to objectify, tailgates to get drunk on, and dirt roads to get DUIs on, brah! Jason Aldean is a parody of country music.

      I’m not alone in this sentiment. The CMA, the most influential governing body in country music, shut him out of their recent award show nominees. That’s right, he didn’t just not win anything, he wasn’t nominated for anything! His album is underperforming, and “Burnin’ It Down” has been getting mixed reviews. Add in the stupid video that has tons of gratuitous sex, and his dumb comments about how he’d be “single again” if he would have starred in it (seriously, how DUMB is this guy?) and you have a full blown career nosedive in the making. Many artists have had affairs, bad songs, and off years on award shows, and came back strong. However, most of them did so by being reserved about their personal life, working hard to write better music, and by being humbled by their lack of recognition and vowing to do better. Jason has been loudmouthed and pissy, put out the worst crap of his career, and vocally pouted about the lack of nominations. Not a good look, pal. We could be seeing a superstar unravel in front of us.

      Here’s my free, unsolicited advice to Mr. Aldean: First of all, shut up. Nobody wants to hear about your upcoming wedding, or how we are just haterz cuz we can’t roll wit your divorce, yo. Be happy with your new bride and leave it out of the public eye. Not everyone likes your choice. Live with it and quit trying to prove them wrong. Secondly, release “Two Night Town” as your next single. The song is very strong and would be a smash hit. Also, consider “Too Fast” as a follow-up, that song is pretty decent as well. Lastly, publically congratulate the CMA winners, and tell everyone how you have been humbled by the lack of nominations, and that you will work harder to represent country music in 2015. Quit whining about it. Follow those, and you might save this sinking ship. Oh, and most importantly… Do not EVER, under any circumstances, accept a song for your album that wasn’t good enough for a Florida-Georgia Line album. Seriously.

     So, long story short, “Burnin’ It Down” sucks. Majorly. Now, quit reading about this clown and go listen to some Turnpike Troubadours and Sturgill Simpson! Keep it country, kids!