Charisa Bossinakis
Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ has debuted to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 despite the song's controversy.
It looks like any publicity is good publicity.
Luminate revealed Aldean’s divisive song’s audio and music video streams have increased by 999 per cent.
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The song was accused of containing threatening lyrics such as ‘Try that in a small town’, warning, ‘See how far you make it down the road'.
Additionally, many said it was a white nationalist anthem as it includes the lyrics ‘Cuss out a cop, spit in his face’ and ‘Stomp on the flag and light it up’.
However, the song attracted even more controversy when the music video was released less than two weeks ago.
The music video shows anti-police riots, suggesting political violence had escalated too far.
And, just to make matters worse, director Shaun Silva filmed Aldean and his band in front of the Columbia courthouse in Tennessee — the site of the 1927 lynching of Henry Choate.
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Following the criticism, Country Music Television reportedly pulled the music video.
Dr Karlos K. Hill, who has written books on race, was among its critics, saying it portrays a significant division among Americans and an us versus them perspective.
“That’s a very present theme, because you see images of urban America on fire, with protests, but then you have the country music singer placed in the rural area where it’s tranquil and calm and peaceful,” he told Rolling Stone.
Whereas ‘urban America’ is depicted descending into utter ‘chaos’.
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Hill added that a video like this was ‘concerning’, especially following the January 6 riots.
“What’s most concerning is the veiled threats of violence that, given the Jan 6 attacks, we should be really alarmed by, because we know where they can lead,” he said.
Justin Jones, state Representative of Tennessee, shared a similar sentiment to Hill, describing it as a 'heinous song calling for racist violence', as per CNN.
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Fellow country star Sheryl Crow also condemned the song, explaining in a tweet: “There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence.”
Aldean has defended the hit, writing to Twitter: "There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far."
He added: "Hey, here's the thing, here's the thing: here's one thing I feel. I feel like everybody's entitled to their opinion.
"You can think, you can think something all you want to, it doesn't mean it's true, right?
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"So what I am is a proud American, proud to be from here."