Brett Young Is Just Another Generic Country Star with “Sleep Without You”
Mainstream country male performers are just one douchebag with many faces at this point. Who is Brett Young? He might as well be Cole Swindell, Sam Hunt, Chase Rice, Kane Brown, Chris Lane, or half a dozen other guys that might have massive country radio hits, but are immediately forgettable, and can’t be picked out of a lineup by the average American. Oh great, another stupid song talking about taxi cabs and text messages. This is country music?
We used to talk about how country radio was all about trying to appeal to the widest possible audience by watering down songs, but I’m not sure that’s the reality anymore. There’s now so much choice in the musical marketplace, you would have to be a stone cold fool not to know you have better options than whatever they’re feeding you on 98.1.
Mainstream country isn’t trying to offer outreach to the masses at this point; they’re more concerned about an extremely narrow, but extremely lucrative niche of corporate country consumers who turn to country radio to tell them what truck to drive, what beer to drink, how to talk and dress, and what music to listen to since they fall within the bulls-eye demographics of corporate advertisers. These listeners want to be just another sucker clasped onto that supple corporate country teat dictating their choices from cradle to grave so they don’t run the risk of coming across as an oddball in their cookie cutter community; that’s the only explanation of why anyone would ever willfully consume this dreck.
Brett Young and his rising single “Sleep Without You” is just the latest in a line of preordained male country debut singles looking to launch yet another heartthrob music franchise with lots of sizzle and extremely little substance. “Sleep Without You” isn’t the premise of a country song, it’s the whining of a P-whipped moron missing his snuggle buddy.
Oh babe
Never thought I would be like this
Wide awake waitin’ on a goodnight kiss
Sippin’ ninety proof…
Yeah so basically “Sleep Without You” is about a guy whose better half is out for a girl’s night out, and he can’t do anything but think about her until she gets back. Oh, and don’t even get him started about falling asleep. Meanwhile according to the video, this dude is randomly doing shots of Crown Royal so ridiculously payola placed in the video it’s insulting to the intelligence, and playing solitaire so he can keep his mind off missing his sweetheart. Somebody get this dumbass a Netflix account. Or I don’t know, how about spending your alone time putting a little more heart into the inane scribbles that became the lyrics to this vomitous song.
The whole “I be” this and “I be” that, and of course you have to mention a club and a DJ in the song, because this is a requirement for all of these Metro-Bro songs. What exactly is country about this song aside from where the marketeers are located that are peddling it?
Country music used to be about the thin line between life and death as rural people struggled every day just to win their daily bread, or such shattering heartbreak that it consumes your every waking thought. Grandma and grandpa used to sleep in separate beds and had sex fully clothed while walking uphill both ways, and they liked it. Now our entertainment is listening to some prick singing over an EDM beat about how he can’t go three hours without missing his hot-ass girlfriend portrayed by Miss America 2015. Well don’t worry Brett Young, she’s probably not cheating on you … unless Jason Aldean’s in the building.
Quit your generic-ass music and go sell Scions or something Brett Young. Leave country music to the professionals.
October 25, 2016 @ 8:48 am
More cannon fodder bullshit.
December 3, 2020 @ 3:11 pm
I totally agree, His voice is not even anywhere near good!! Guy is total trash. Even Taylor Swift and kane Brown do better brett and im not a big fan of country but they definitely overrule this guy!
January 9, 2024 @ 11:30 pm
I’m replying in 2023! It sorta makes your comment way off!!! All of them are stars now! Please, are you singing and showing up on my feeds?
October 25, 2016 @ 9:01 am
Great review, spot on with everything you said. Had a couple good chuckles throughout. Guy is an absolute clown.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:04 am
Oddly enough Kane Brown is exactly the opposite. He’s had little radio success, but relatively strong sales numbers (doesn’t make his music good, it’s terrible, but just that he’s the opposite of the radio hit but no sales #’s crowd).
Anyways, problem is generic bro country shit tests extremely well. It’s not just that radio programmers push it, it tests better among radio listeners than most of the actually good songs. I’m not sure how sustainable radio is long term, and it might be short sighted, but it is a business, and they are in the business of keeping their consumers happy. If consumers want dreck, dreck is what they will get.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:07 am
This is very whiny. If I were the girl, I wouldn’t find this attractive at all.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:11 am
From Wikipedia:
“Young was a college baseball pitcher but took up songwriting after getting injured.”
Bro-country – where washed-up college jocks go to maintain their bro-ness. See also – Brian Kelley, Jake Owen, & Lee Brice.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
October 25, 2016 @ 9:12 am
Omission – Sam Hunt.
October 26, 2016 @ 4:00 pm
Don’t forget chase rice
October 25, 2016 @ 4:41 pm
Jake Owen? Fck outta here man….
October 25, 2016 @ 7:08 pm
Yes, Jake Owen.
From Wiki:
“Jake eventually took up golf, and began pursuing a career as a professional golfer, winning his first tournament at fifteen.[4] After graduating from Vero Beach High School, they attended Florida State University. A wakeboarding accident which resulted in reconstructive surgery left Jake unable to continue playing the sport.”
You owe me an apology.
October 25, 2016 @ 7:47 pm
I think he was actually objecting to you lumping jake Owen in with Brett young and Brian Kelley the
October 26, 2016 @ 4:23 pm
Golf is a sport?
October 25, 2016 @ 9:12 am
How in the world do these “artists” make it through these songs and videos with a straight face? I mean, angry solitaire, shooting some late night hoops, burning your hand on a Hot Pocket? So much unnecessary drama for a song with zero actual human emotion. I feel like my first grader wrote the song and my fourth grader directed the video.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:25 am
I can’t believe I paused Don’t Rock the Jukebox to watch this video. I just had to see what the “burning his hand on a hot pocket” was all about. Boy, what a wuss. And to think people my age fall for this shit.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:13 am
Teeny bopper Disney country. Give me George Strait, Alan Jackson, Gary Allan, Josh Turner, Tim McGraw, Jon Pardi, William Michael Morgan, Eric Church, Mo Pitney, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Lee Ann Womack, Margo Price, Patty Loveless, Carrie Underwood, Brandy Clark, Miranda Lambert, and Maddie and Tae any day over this snoozefest.
March 5, 2018 @ 4:06 pm
Mayyyybe you should try looking into Texas Music, The Randy ROGErs BAND, Parker McCollum, Koe Wetzel, turnpike troubadours, Reckless kelly, Wade Bowen, and it goes on and on… we have an entire genre dedicated to songwriting and live shows. It’ll change your life, especially if you go to a Texas music show.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:14 am
And by the way, dude looks like a goat.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:57 am
???????
October 25, 2016 @ 9:15 am
I actually like this song. I find Brett Young’s vocals to be solid. Nothing outstanding but nothing bad. I also like the lyrics, of the song as I find them very relatable.
Also why did you call Brett Young a prick, like I really don’t get that at all. I mean unless you know Brett Young yourself. I am confused how waiting for someone you love makes you a prick?
I like reading your blog, but its reviews like this that leave me confused.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:19 am
I’ll actually agree with you on the prick comment being unnecessary. To much name calling going on, it’s one reason I really like “Kill A Word” it sends a smart message. One of the columns I liked on here a while back was good people bad music. It’s sometimes important to remember that just bc you don’t like someone’s music, doesn’t actually make them a bad person.
October 25, 2016 @ 10:26 am
CORRECTION: I called him “some prick.”
🙂
Look, it’s harmless. I know where the line is when it comes to name calling, and I didn’t cross it in this review, in my opinion. Brett should be lucky I didn’t go on a full out rant. Dude needs to sack up if he wants to be a country star. “Prick” isn’t the worst he’ll be called peddling this worthless drivel as “country,” which is why the term “price” is completely warranted.
October 25, 2016 @ 3:30 pm
Just feel like a lot of our discourse these days has become un-civil if you disagree with a person. Each instance in and of itself might be ‘within the lines” or a joke, not a big deal. But they seem to all have a cumulative effect.
But I’ve also heard way to many political ads lately.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:33 am
Actually kind of agree with you about the prick bit, but then again, I’ve called Luke Bryan a douchebag for purposely screwing up country music before. Anyway, as a woman, I find these lyrics very whiny and needy. It doesn’t come off as waiting around for someone you love, it comes off as being so obsessed with them that you can’t go a few hours without them. I have been in a relationship like that and it is not attractive.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:37 am
I agree, Megan. The calling Brett Young a prick is a bit unnecessary, but I have also called so-called country artists horrible names before out of anger for them ruining country music. I also look at the lyrics from a woman’s perspective, and they are extremely needy and somewhat to the point of smothering behavior, which is very immature for a supposedly grown man. I have also been in relationships like that, and I agree, it isn’t the least bit attractive.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:43 am
I’d say you are a prick if you intentionally release a song like this.
October 26, 2016 @ 4:12 am
This guy knows what’s up.
October 26, 2016 @ 11:09 am
I agree with both of you about how the traits described in this song are anything but desirable, but I also think we tend to take lyrics a bit too seriously when we don’t like the song in question. When you’re quite smitten with someone, don’t you use a bit of hyperbole when describing that feeling? Isn’t art supposed to be a medium with which one can express such things? Listeners are expected to understand that there’s some hyperbole involved. I kind of think “Redneck Crazy” suffered the same fate. I don’t think we were meant to assume that the narrator was actually doing any of those things.
For the record I can’t stand either song.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:19 am
This poor guy. Can you say overly possessive and over crowding? The chick is probably trying to escape from this psychopath. I just refuse to believe people actually like this crap. The video is hilarious though. If bro-country did anything us, it brought us embarrassing music videos that are comical. Thanks for the laugh.
Side note: it is time for a new albums from Shooter and Jamey Johnson… I don’t know how much longer I deal with this drought.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:24 am
Bad song from a brand new bro country singer. this is not country music it’s bad music. I’ll play some Willie and Merle for my ear cleansing.
October 25, 2016 @ 9:28 am
I be not going to listen to it
November 11, 2017 @ 7:43 am
That is FUNNY!!!! “I be not going to listen…” awesome!!
October 25, 2016 @ 9:53 am
Was that a music video or a Crown Royal commercial?
October 25, 2016 @ 12:21 pm
Who takes the time to pour shots when you are drinking straight whiskey by yourself and being a creeper? This video is very disturbing. His grin at the end when she walks in, creepy as F***….
October 25, 2016 @ 10:06 am
Tried several different times to get through the song, had to pause after only a few seconds every time, finally made it… 30 seconds in. Agree with Amanda, I’d almost expect this type of thing on the Disney channel. Horrible, and not country.
October 25, 2016 @ 10:24 am
I can’t believe you didn’t mention how grating and annoying his knock-off Gary LeVox voice is. I haven’t been able to even listen for substance because I can’t get past the vocal.
October 25, 2016 @ 10:52 am
The first time I heard a Brett Young song I wasn’t sure if it was Rascal Flatts, Hunter Hayes, or Brett Young.
October 25, 2016 @ 4:46 pm
He sounds NOTHING like Rascal Flatts! That’s a massive insult to them TBH…
October 26, 2016 @ 8:12 am
When the chorus kicks in this guy goes into full LeVox mode. By far two of the most annoying voices in country music.
Listen to this guy sing live/acoustic on YouTube and all his flaws and bad vocal habits are hidden no more. Just atrocious and an embarrassment to the format.
October 25, 2016 @ 10:32 am
LOL so when his squeeze does get back, he’ll be suffering from a nice case of whiskey dick…although it’s possible that she might secretly be grateful…
October 25, 2016 @ 11:16 am
Dude, that’s embarrassing.
October 25, 2016 @ 2:11 pm
I’d like to thank you all for taking the bullet and watching/listening to this so I don’t have to. Much appreciated.
October 25, 2016 @ 2:40 pm
I work in a room with constant machine noises and our radio gets very few stations – a rock station, a country station, a pop station, and once in a while an “oldies” (60s, 70s, 80s) station. The oldies station is fine but rarely comes in, so we find ourselves listening to the country station because it’s just good background music. Nobody is really paying attention to the lyrics because the machines drown them out half the time. Most of the songs have an upbeat tempo and nothing too heavy like on the pop and rock stations, so even though the music sucks, it’s not as bad as the terrible pop music or the heavy rock music (I work with many people 50+ years old who don’t particularly care for bands like Nirvana and Metallica). If you couldn’t tell, I don’t mean this as a compliment to country radio, just an indicator of how bland it’s become.
October 26, 2016 @ 7:08 am
So you seem to be saying “country” radio is the lesser of several evils Nate. Kinda like ” If I had to choose a torture I’d rather have them pull out my finger nails one by one than take pins to my eyes ” .
Hear ya . BUT here’s the interesting thing about choices . We have a gazzillion far far better choices than most of these commercial radio formats are forcing upon us and don’t seem to do anything about it . WHY ?? I have an mp3 player and a portable speaker I take to work with me and NEVER have to deal with the radio shit . The more of that musical wallpaper we’re subjected to the more tainted our tastes become and the worse the music gets . There’s is no end to how brain-washed and how uncaring we will become if we don’t take a stand …at work ..at home …in the car . C’mon Nate ….BE THE CHANGE .
October 25, 2016 @ 2:52 pm
He looks like a Jonas brother – and who needs another one of those?
October 26, 2016 @ 7:29 am
Ah, the Jonas Brothers craze of the mid-2000s. Surprisingly, as a pre-teen (I was maybe around 11-12-or-13 at the time), I was never into their music (and yes, I did like some embarrassing stuff in middle and high school before discovering Trigger and Saving Country Music), but I had a younger cousin who was massively obsessed with the Jonas Brothers.
October 25, 2016 @ 3:32 pm
Honestly, I kind of like this song. Although, I think it doesn’t really needs drum machines
October 25, 2016 @ 3:47 pm
If Trump wins, i hope he outlaws tunes like this & sends ass hats such as these to a desert island.
October 25, 2016 @ 4:28 pm
I’m reminded of something that jazz legend Charlie Parker said about why he loved country music so much: “”Listen to the stories, man. These cats really know how to tell a story.”
But this guy is just one more young hunk put out there to part some unsuspecting country music listeners from their hard-earned greenbacks, and with the same old paint-by-numbers shtick.
October 25, 2016 @ 4:45 pm
I generally like “most” pop country music, but this is an awful song by a truly awful artist. He has a TERRIBLE VOICE! His voice is so bad and SO ANNOYING that i wish i could give him a swift punch right in the mouth….coming from a person who has never slapped/bunched/kicked/assaulted anyone a day in my life. I hope this is the only single this assclown gets on radio, because he is horrible and i do not understand how garbage like this gets as far as it has and keeps climbing the charts. This song is a total embarrassment for Brett Young himself and everyone involved with it, he should be ashamed of this piece of shit worthless song.
October 25, 2016 @ 6:34 pm
This dude needs friends
October 25, 2016 @ 6:52 pm
He’s hot though so.
October 25, 2016 @ 7:03 pm
Doesn’t happen often but I disagree on this one. Isn’t super memorable or anything to write home about but I do like it. At the moment I sort of looking listen for it on the radio.
I’m usually a much more traditional guy and 90’s country.
To each their own.
October 25, 2016 @ 7:54 pm
Aside from the fact that the song is terrible, the guys voice is absolutely TRASH.
October 26, 2016 @ 6:55 am
Excellent commentary Trigger. You absolutely NAIL what people are feeling about the manufacturing of these soulless, pointless and insignificant ” artists” and the trite , grade 1 lyrics they are FORCED to sing . (…. I HAVE to believe no human would CHOOSE to sing some of this crap … I cannot process the possibility that anyone would actually WANT to be associated with these lyrics .)
I hate to say it …but even his name seems manufactured . ..like Luke Bryan or Sam Hunt . With the demise of newspaper delivery I guess all of these paper boys are looking for alternative ‘ careers’ .
October 26, 2016 @ 12:07 pm
I can’t make it past one minute. His voice is beyond grating.
October 26, 2016 @ 12:39 pm
I know I’ve said this before, but I still wonder: why is it that these “modern country heartthrobs” all look like stalkers and child molesters? Is creepy a “cool” look nowadays?
October 26, 2016 @ 4:08 pm
I don’t love the song. My main problem is with the lack of emotion he has singing. This is my problem with almost all of mainstream country these days. Country singers used to sing with heart, and emotion and passion. Now everything sounds so flatlined. Same with the latest Fgl song. Flatlined. I like the new Billy Currington song because he sings with some emotion. But I really am not digging a lot of these lack of any passion vocals in new present day country.
October 29, 2016 @ 6:05 pm
I haven’t even heard the song yet, but I was laughing hysterically thoughout the review… and I’m fairly certain I don’t want to hear it at this point. xD
November 30, 2016 @ 6:47 am
I absolutely despise this song and this dude. I can’t get away from the song. It’s always on and I change the station as fast as possible. Great article.
February 10, 2017 @ 1:36 pm
I absolutely love this song and I was raised on country in Northern California. Brett is from California so talking about clubs and DJ’s in his song to me, not a marketing tactic but truthful storytelling of what it’s like to date in that culture. Country music is about being honest. This song, to me, was never meant to be some deep love song. It’s just a song about how truly in love he is with his girlfriend. Which is DAMN SEXY because he’s comfortable enough with himself to express his true feelings. To be able to admit that, yes-guys do fall in love. This is why so many women love Ryan Gosling. Because he owns his feelings and looks entirely comfortable in his own skin doing it. Women like men who honor and respect women-it doesn’t get more country than that.
If anything, it’s a hell of a lot better than hearing another song about some hot girl in cutoff shorts. Shout out to Maddie and Tae for speaking the truth.
After reading all these comments, it’s unfortunately clear to me that society is still critical of a man feeling and sharing emotions. The description of how he feels about her isn’t smothering. He’s excited and loves spending time with her-kind of like Ushers “you got it bad.” There’s a lot of judgement in this article and the comments. What I can’t argue with is if you simply didn’t enjoy the song because that’s y’all’s right. But please, stop with the judgement about how he feels because it’s really unkind and just not necessary.