Hunter Hayes’ “Wanted” (Review & Rant)
Leaping off the pages of the latest issue of Tiger Beat, Hunter Hayes and his prepubescent, non-gender-specific style have gripped the nation’s middle schools with Hunter mania, spearheaded by his smash hit “Wanted”– a saccharine, ultra-diluted white boy R&B B-side at best, only finding commercial traction on country radio because legions of lanky, affluent, glitter-faced suburban girls in training bras want to see Hunter’s penis.
Hunter Hayes got his start in country music by famously singing Jambalaya at a Hank Jr. concert. Since then you’d have better luck finding a honest-to-God whisker on Hunter’s supple cheeks than a song from him that in any way could be defined as country. He was 4-years-old back then and he’s 21 now, but Hunter’s appeal seems to be that he looks, sounds, and acts perpetually 14. Call it the Bieber effect finding its way to country music. Hunter is a fortunate son who unfortunately decided to label his ragingly milktoast, bleached and bland, hyper-safe pop sonnets “country” instead of the pop or adult contemporary it is more akin to. Don’t let Hunter’s peroxide-tipped Gary Levox hairdo fool you; he makes Rascal Flatts sound like Johnny Paycheck.
“Wanted” is the music version of dry humping. Like so many light listening ballads that build out from the reassuring line “you are beautiful,” it preys on girls and women with self-esteem issues with its lyrical hook, “I want to make you feel wanted.” That’s right, Hunter hasn’t maturated enough where he can just say he wants a woman. He just wants a woman to feel wanted. And then maybe she will be receptive to the advances he’s thinking about making…once his balls finally drop. This subservient, non-assertive approach is what makes desperate women weep, and men vehemently seek out a safe place to vomit.
The chorus of “Wanted,” especially the cadence of Hunter’s words, is overly contrived and wholly ambivalent to originality or creative artistic expression. The song is an excellent example of the algorithmic approach to musical composition. “Wanted” is music for people who don’t like music.
Is pop music that uses country radio to circumvent the glut in the pop world more problematic than country rapping or “fake Outlaws” who scream about how country they are in songs that at their heart are pop too? No, because at least “Wanted” has some honesty behind the approach, and I’ll give Hunter credit for turning in a fairly passionate performance despite the dry parameters of the song structure. Hunter Hayes and “Wanted” aren’t terrible, they’re just mislabeled. There’s a place in the world for music like this. That place just isn’t country.
1 3/4 of 2 guns down.
January 21, 2013 @ 9:41 am
0:48. Thats as far as I got. I can’t stomach it.
“I want to make you feel wanted.” That sounds like something Bill Clinton probably said as Monica’s face was planted in his lap and he was distractingly watching CNN.
I wish I would have had that line handy in college, I would probably have a few more notched in my belt…
January 21, 2013 @ 10:15 am
Made it to 1:07, my head imploded. Not just from the Bieberish singing, but the sorry excuse for what I thought sounded like a Sho Bud with its balls removed.
January 21, 2013 @ 10:57 am
I’d rather a pop country song not have any steel guitar, fiddle, or banjo at all than bury it so deep in the mix it’s insulting it’s even there, like somehow that is justification to call it country.
January 21, 2013 @ 11:02 am
Yes! And at the slide of a fader those bad boys will be gone so the track is ready for AC release! YUUUUCCKKK!
January 21, 2013 @ 10:47 am
I made it to 2:01. Do I get a prize or a bitch-slap?
January 21, 2013 @ 11:37 am
“{H}e makes Rascal Flatts sound like Johnny Paycheck.
“Wanted” is the music version of dry humping.”
Your imagery and gift with words, Trig, are why you make the big bucks and i twist a wrench, so to speak, by the hour.
I have seen this androgenous youngster’s CD in the bins as I carefully review the CDs in the Country section of my LRSs and skipped over them when I saw that the singer looks like the sexually ambiguous Justin Beiber.
I think he had better save his bucks as they come in, because he will be singing in Branson before he reaches his 25th birthday.
January 21, 2013 @ 12:15 pm
Question: who’s got more soul, Hunter, or the auto-tune program without which he’d be just another kid working in the warehouse at Target?
January 21, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
While I dislike this song, Hunter Hayes’s musical talent cannot be denied. Just look at the video of him playing accordion when he was 4. Auto-tune or not, he definitely would have a strong career in music anyway.
February 14, 2013 @ 2:06 pm
I agree. This song stinks. but that video of him doing Jambayla was bad ass. He was rockin that little accordion.
January 21, 2013 @ 1:04 pm
I agree with your criticism of this song. This belongs with Bruno Mars on pop radio, not on country radio.
January 21, 2013 @ 1:31 pm
This song’s chart run ended a couple months ago. Why review it now other than to take potshots at someone most people reading this blog care nothing about?
January 21, 2013 @ 1:42 pm
Really? The chart I’m looking at shows it as #2 and the streaming gainer for the week, deposing Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever…” out of one of the top two positions for the first time in the last 22 weeks.
Actually the reason I decided to write this now is because over the weekend there were all these news stories about Hunter celebrating the #1 status and sales numbers of this song at BMI.
http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1700412/hunter-hayes-fulfills-wants-with-wanted-his-first-no-1-song.jhtml
http://www.theboot.com/2013/01/18/hunter-hayes-wanted/
I’ll give you that this song has been out there for a while and I may be a litle behind the game. For a song like this, I usually wait until they prove themselves worthy of review as opposed to reviewing them right when they come out.
January 21, 2013 @ 3:55 pm
Its chart run is over on the Billboard country airplay chart. It is still number #2 on the stupid Billboard hot country songs chart that Billboard implemented last year.
January 21, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
I been hearing it on top 40 pop stations lately as well as seeing it on vh1.This nightmare is far from over.
January 21, 2013 @ 1:32 pm
First off, I cannot stand music like this.
However, THIS is what is now the normal in modern country.
I wouldn’t have nearly the prob with tunes like this if they weren’t passed off As country.
Rascal Flatts could easily sing this song, even sounds like them. I’m sure most people
thought this when they subjected themselves to this.
But really, how is this guy any worse than all the rest????
You say he shouldn’t be called country, I agree.
But T Swift and all the other garbage out there is so why shouldn’t this
little meatballs tunes be in the same category?
At least he can play instruments.
In the end though, he’s just a puppet doing what he’s told.
January 21, 2013 @ 1:41 pm
Taylor Swift’s songs in general are far more country than “Wanted”. At least her songs are based on storytelling, in the country music tradition. The song structure in “Wanted” is completely pop.
January 21, 2013 @ 1:43 pm
Ok Eric, let’s please not allow this to veer towards Taylor Swift yet again.
February 14, 2013 @ 2:07 pm
Yet again, I agree with Eric.
January 21, 2013 @ 1:48 pm
I agree this is no worse than most. I think that’s an important point to remember. That’s why I didn’t give it a full two guns down. Whether something is country or not, and whether something is good or not are two different things. Saying something is country when it is pop will always deduct points, but a song should still stand on its own merit. Rascal Flatts make pop country and they call it pop country. This song is watered-down R&B being called country.
January 21, 2013 @ 7:01 pm
I may have heard this kid before on award shows and stuff, but this is probably the first time I’ve checked out the studio version, believe it or not…
As a female listener, I must say this song does nothing for me — even taking it as a pop song, I find it pretty forgettable. :p (Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m at least 10 years his senior!)
January 21, 2013 @ 1:55 pm
Eric!! I’m gonna try and be politically correct here….
But go take your T Swift cd’s, posters,t-shirts, news clippings & the rest of your creepy
Obsession & go Pound Sand!!!!
Your comments on here about your obvious fantasy with her & thinking in that head of yours that she’s “country” driving me(and others I’m sure) Nuckin Futz!!!!
Anyway, I won’t be too hard on you since I gather from your rants about her that your
quite young. I mean, can’t you find a replacement for her in your high school or college you may even attend?
How did I do Trigg, I really tried 🙂
January 21, 2013 @ 2:24 pm
“Anyway, I won”™t be too hard on you since I gather from your rants about her that your
quite young.”
Good job. Want to guess an age now?
January 21, 2013 @ 2:25 pm
He looks like the third Olson twin. Can you have triplets- two identical girls and then a maternal boy? (that actually might be a serious question.)
I don’t think we need to get into a what/who is country. This clearly isn’t Johnny Cash. This is just Music Row trying to catch Beiber-fever. But like Trigger has pointed out in the past, Music Row is usually a couple years behind…and Beiber-fever isn’t what it once was and the flame is burning out.
January 21, 2013 @ 2:27 pm
Couldn’t even bring myself to listen to it.
January 21, 2013 @ 2:54 pm
Had to watch it… is this Phil Vasser’s son? Or are they trying to reignite the horrid music Vasser brought to country?
The only thing authentic in this video is??? maybe his piano playing, although I don’t think we actually see him playing the keys.
Auto-tune- fake
Not a chance Hunter is riding that motorcycle- fake
The girl on the bike…no way Hunter.
and then what the hell happens at the end when the girl is with some other dude? What happened to the bike ride up the coast with Hunter doing his best Jax Teller???
January 21, 2013 @ 2:58 pm
Sure Eric… We’re all just dyin to know.
January 21, 2013 @ 3:07 pm
22.
And believe me, the university in which I am currently a graduate student has plenty of attractive women.
January 21, 2013 @ 3:29 pm
The woman in the video is hot. She also looks somewhat older than him. A cougar perhaps?
January 21, 2013 @ 3:36 pm
I knew you had to be young & honestly I’m relieved.
Had you been an older dude I would have been shaking my head big time.
Anyway, I get it that your a fan of hers.
But the library of Great country artists is very deep & if your really a fan
of country then you owe it to yourself to start searching all these artists out.
T Swift may have somehow brought you to country music, but now it’s time
to take it to the next level.
Best of luck
January 21, 2013 @ 10:50 pm
I’m very much familiar with the works of the country music legends. I’ve been reading about country music history and listening to songs by Hank Williams, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Strait, Alan Jackson, etc. for a year or more now.
If you look at my posting history, I think you’ll find that the majority of articles that I post on are either reviews or historical pieces. I often find myself posting on articles that end up with less than 10 comments total. I think this misperception that I post overwhelmingly about Taylor Swift is fueled by the fact that I post a very large number of comments generally on each Taylor Swift article, due to the highly argumentative nature of the comments sections on those articles.
January 22, 2013 @ 7:40 am
Just an educated guess, but are you from Boston?
January 22, 2013 @ 7:40 am
Just an educated guess, but are you from Boston or somewhere thereabouts?
January 22, 2013 @ 10:35 am
I grew up in the Seattle area (from the age of 5) and have been living in California for the past 5.5 years.
January 22, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
So you’re from the West Coast, yet you’re the one telling a Masshole that Western Mass is more liberal then Boston. . .
January 22, 2013 @ 3:33 pm
I’ve been studying politics for several years now, and I have a basic knowledge of the political orientations of the various regions of several states that I have never even been to, such as Massachusetts.
For the record, I never said that Western Mass. is more liberal than Boston. I said that Western Mass. is more liberal than everywhere else in Mass. except Boston.
January 21, 2013 @ 4:55 pm
Maybe a link to Alan Jackson’s “Wanted” would be appropriate. Juxtaposed next to Hunter’s “Wanted” ..It could help Hunter fans realize what country sounds like once they stumble on this article after their Google search of “Hunter’s Penis”
January 22, 2013 @ 5:17 am
Absolutely!
Actually, Trig, I think it would be healthy to level articles like this out with a classic, pure country tunes/videos beneath the subject video. You’ve got to get us back to “zero” at the end of these disasters!
January 26, 2013 @ 1:36 pm
Maybe a link to Alan Jackson”™s “Wanted” would be appropriate.
LMAO. Hand to God, the first thing I thought when I stumbled up on this dreck some months ago was, “The Alan Jackson song with the same title is MUCH better.”
Trig, I saw the title of this post and the teaser on the front page and thought, “Hoo-boy, this is gonna be EPIC.” I was not disappointed. Well done, sir!
January 21, 2013 @ 7:28 pm
Wow. There are not the right words to describe my disgust. I’d rather watch human centipede and listen to yanni than to ever even acknowledge that this happened. Fuck man.
January 21, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
With the sound and look I’m surprised it isn’t your AOTY candidate. I bet you’ll end up picklerin’ this one!
January 22, 2013 @ 2:38 am
Hunter Hayes Sucks At singing badly!
i’d rather listen to fag** chesney over and over.
January 22, 2013 @ 8:50 am
Phew! Lol! You guys crack me up.
At least he didn’t start out his songs with that damn plinkity plunkity banjo form-u-la sound we’ve all come to love.
And, hell, if his marketing team is good enough, he can fly to the moon baby! Nothing stopping him, not while people have money to spend and vacuums in their lives to fill.
And, he can even be a role model for all those little boys.
January 22, 2013 @ 9:08 pm
I really don’t like this kid’s music.
January 22, 2013 @ 10:40 pm
the wussification of the american male continues
January 26, 2013 @ 9:51 pm
Hunter’s music is not my cup of tea but i kinda respected this guy having played all of the instruments on his album including the steel guitar and fiddle (except for the mixing and production which he co-produced with Dann Huff).
i don’t consider him country. more like country-influenced pop. But compare him to Justin Bieber? This guy is way ahead of Bieber when it comes to talent.
January 27, 2013 @ 9:21 am
This is the most hilarious and brutally honest review I’ve ever read.
Preach on, call it like ya see it.
I’m still laughing… oh that was so perfect.
-W
January 27, 2013 @ 1:13 pm
I got a good laugh out of paragraph one!
February 9, 2013 @ 12:12 am
I am torn here, the music is awful and the mix is awful and the auto-tune is awful and we all know that no matter how good he may be on all the instruments he played if he was ugly we wouldn’t be having this discussion, period. And it really irks me that public always skates this around the issue that image trumps everything. Or does an ALL CAPS telling me I am jealous.
That aside, it will be touted for eons about how he played every instrument on the album as proof of greatness… well it is impressive to a point Stevie Wonder did the same thing, so did Prince… but compare what they creeated to this. I have a feeling that instead of being a dynamo on say piano or guitar he will be mediocre on many instruments. Justin Bieber was praised being able to play multiple instruments and have you seen him play drums? Ugh. Eveylen Glennie is better and she is deaf and to be fair much older.
The songwriting is way too sugary for some one who is 21 that it is almost creepy. And it has the authenticity of what 13 year old write in junior high for poetry week. And this will not likely change because this kid unlike Hank or Loretta will no have struggle and lived a life that produces really great lyrics, likes those of Dylan or Robert Johnson because the last few generations have grown up way too pandered too, protected, and privileged, not all of them but then those kind of artists don’t seem to make it big. So they have no life experience that will allow them to write a song like ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ or “Are You Sure Hank Did It This Way’. And most teens may not care because girls have ALWAYS love that kind of sap, Johnny Matthis anyone? But others notice the lack of substance.
So while I am willing admit it is somewhat impressive he played all the instruments (even if he played them not that great), all that means nothing if what you do with that talent is create this dreck that is so clearly focus grouped to death and has no real authentic and unique voice. When it sounds like every other top 40 you may have a hit with the charts but you’ll have a big miss me. This really came to the fore for me when I just recently listen to ‘Coal’ and ‘Calling Me Home’ by Kathy Mattea. She wrote none of those songs but after hearing two to perfect albums I am hear inauthenticty EVERYWHERE in music, it blares like a siren.
People seem to think talent and creativity always go hand in hand. Just because you are a piano wizard doesn’t mean you will create great piano music. Technical proficiency and creativity are two different camps and together you *might* find genius. Just because you write lyrics doesn’t mean you write good lyrics -ahem- Taylor Swift- I am also annoyed that the prodigies get all the face time while older musicians who can also play multiple instruments get no face time.
Lastly, if he grew up listening to country music and this is what he came up with then the country music he grew up with must have been Shania Twain and Garth Brooks (no offense Mr. Brooks, I like several of your songs).
February 14, 2013 @ 1:26 pm
true story..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE28xNy1dYI
February 14, 2013 @ 3:01 pm
He is the Justin Beiber of country music
January 23, 2014 @ 2:42 pm
This is EXCEPTIONALLY late to the party, but I stumbled across this and just had to give my opinion.
I’m actually a seventeen year old girl from a city of about 90,000 in New Hampshire. Every time I write that it doesn’t seem to command much authority, but I’ve studied a lot of country music, new to old and back again, I’m also planning on majoring in songwriting at Belmont next school year, because I hope to someday be able to stop the horrible train of sexist, redneck lyricism that permeates modern country (lookin at you, Mr. Bryan).
But that’s the thing: Hunter isn’t being derogatory here and isn’t that a step up? He I’d actually WRITE it, and isn’t that notable in a genre that makes me question whether the singers on the radio are literate, which would explain why they’ve never writtn anything for themselves?
Yes, it’s sappy. He also wrote the album when he was high school aged. If you dive deeper into the album, you get some songs with more integrity. I give him credit for the likes of Rainy Season and What You Gonna Do, the latter of which he wrote at fifteen or sixteen and by himself.
Yes, he’s nice looking, yes it helped him in the industry, but when he moved to Nashville he was a pimply sixteen year old.
He put together an album, essentially all by himself, at nineteen years old. Imagine yourself at nineteen!
In sum, he has merit. I don’t think he’s sold his soul to the devil, maybe he’ll put together an album that forgoes the high school romance. For now I’m just grateful a 35 year old man in skinny jeans isn’t telling me to shake my ass at a bonfire on a riverside with the beer a’ pourin.
I say let the kid make noise. It’s a sweet song, inoffensive, and he did mean it at the time as much as the Great Loretta Lynn meant “Coal Miner’s Daughter”.
Just pray he doesn’t sell out for a hit.
January 28, 2014 @ 5:24 pm
This was sickening to read. People always judge and underestimate Hunter. He is an extremely talented 22 year old who can play over 20 instruments and writes his own songs. His music actually has meaning to it unlike other country music. He doesn’t sing about alcohol and pickup trucks. His newest single “Invisible” tells the story of his past and reminds us that we are not alone. He genuinely cares about his fans and has not let fame go to his head. I pity the people who are so dumb they cannot see this. I will forever respect and love Hunter and I wish I could thank him for being such a great artist and person.
January 29, 2014 @ 3:20 pm
You’re definitely right, Angie. Hunter’s a good human being. The review this guy wrote was too scathing. I definitely think he has Hunter all wrong. Besides, I’ve never read a review that doesn’t sing his praises.
This was essentially bullying, it was pretty despicable. Give the kid a chance to grow up some and his music will deepen.
August 22, 2014 @ 5:57 am
This is the worst singer I have ever seen live . Sucks bad due needs to quit.
October 11, 2014 @ 8:03 pm
I’m a little late to the party here, but I actually like this song. While it may not be completely country, it does have some substance behind it, and a story that goes along with it. Hunter wrote this song for his friend that was going through a tough breakup, because he cared that much about her. Keep in mind that you should do a bit more research before bashing one of the most recognizable songs in music today. I’m not saying your opinion is wrong, and I respect you for voicing it, but insulting Hunter like that isn’t okay.
July 13, 2015 @ 10:40 am
15 year old girl here. I personally am a Hayes fan. I cant really stand the music marketed as actual pop. Justin Beaver and one direction make me gag. A lot of it is explicit and all electronic. Blech. Hunter Hayes is super talented musically. He does write good lyrics. Invisible is terrific. And before someone says i dont know what good music is, Im also a fan of traditional country. LOVE Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline and so many others. I am also a fan of most oldies. Sinatra, Crosby, Swing, the big bands of the forties…. I think they are all awesome. But sometimes people do want “party ” music. Music you can dance to and dont have to think about. Hunter Hayes did that with 21. Doesnt mean he isnt talented, just what he was aiming for and accomplished. And 30 instruments! Wow. Nowadays it doesnt seems like some musicians even play the guitar.
July 13, 2015 @ 10:45 am
What is so bad about a love song that isnt explicit? I think Jason Aldeans Burning it Down and FGL’s Sun Daze are bad. No those are not love songs but they are kind of descriptive and suggestive. Hunter Hayes doesnt do that. Dont see why that is a bad thing. And I believe he is a Christian so writing that kind of stuff would make him somewhat of a hypocrite.