Country music star Jason Aldean has expressed his gratitude to his fans for their steadfast support in the wake of controversy surrounding his music video for “Try That In A Small Town”.
Aldean took to social media to share a compilation video featuring snippets from his recent concerts, with the contentious song serving as the soundtrack.
In the video, Aldean is seen addressing his fans during a concert, responding to a query about whether he would perform the controversial song. He stated, “The people have spoken and you guys spoke very, very loudly this week.”
Aldean’s wife, Brittany, also joined in the celebration of their fans’ support by creating a personal video that included their two children, Navy and Memphis, at their father’s concerts.
The controversy seems to have boosted the song’s popularity, with its streams skyrocketing by 999% since it became a trending topic online. Data from Luminate, a company that monitors streams and music sales, revealed that the song’s audio and video streams jumped from 987,000 to 11.7 million in the week following the release of the music video.
The song also saw a significant increase in sales, selling 228,000 tracks last week compared to 1,000 the week before the music video was released. The song’s success was further cemented when it secured the second spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 list, marking Aldean’s highest position on the chart to date.
The music video for “Try That In A Small Town” has been criticized for its portrayal of small towns standing against the riots and lawlessness that many cities experienced during the summer of 2020. Aldean has refuted claims that the song has racial undertones and criticized the accusations as baseless and dangerous. Despite the controversy, Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the video from rotation three days after its initial airing.
