Jordan Davis and “Singles You Up” Give Kickass Beards a Bad Name
If there was ever a good moment for a well-manicured hipster beard to get unfortunately mangled in a piece of industrial equipment and/or farm machinery, now would be opportune. Or perhaps just an old fashioned dog muzzle could be employed, or a ball gag—anything that will keep this douche nozzle occupied and his mouth incapacitated from performing pop country’s latest pestilence presiding under the name “Singles You Up.”
Who the hell is Jordan Davis you say? Well he’s that pop country guy; you know, the one with the beard. Because how the hell else would you tell him apart for the reams and reams of these generic pop country bros stacked up so thick up and down Music Row you need a cattle guard to get through them? You certainly couldn’t distinguish him due to the uniqueness of this song. He’s just the latest headed to #1 with a hackneyed tune full of urban vernacular and electronic drum beats, trying to take a bro jargon buzzphrase and flesh it out into something fit for human consumption, and stupendously failing.
They’re giving away #1’s in Nashville these days like syringes during the AIDS epidemic. If you travel to Music City, don’t be surprised if your bartender, barista, or Uber driver has a #1 on country radio, as long as they’ve got a key fob and not a change purse in their britches mind you, because this ain’t no equal opportunity promotion. Purchase a Platinum-level add-on to your CMA Fan Fest Getaway Package, and you too can have a #1 on country radio, as long as you’re toned and quaffed. Don’t worry if you can’t sing, that’s what Antares developed Auto-Tune for. Just step into the recording booth, and that producer behind the Macbook will take care of the rest.
You can just see Jordan Davis and his co-writers sitting around an Ikea sectional sipping on Starbucks Ventis, and in between taking selfies and swapping stories about their Kawasaki motorcycles, scribbling out verses swapping phrases like “I’m going to be” for “Imma be” to make this song seem hip when we all know their cracker asses wouldn’t get caught speaking like this in the hood.
Then after they’re done, Jordan Davis hits up a Chili’s and comes on to a college-age waitress. “Hey baby, Imma be #1 on country radio.” But she doesn’t care because she’s banging the fry cook who co-wrote a #1 with Chris Lane. Or was it Chase Rice, or Chase Bryant, or one of the guys from Old Dominion? Does it really matter?
Surprisingly, one of the co-writers on “Singles You Up” is Steven Dale Jones who’s done some good stuff for George Strait and Reba. Not sure what he’s doing hanging with the body spray crowd.
“Singles You Up” isn’t exceptionally bad, it’s just exceptionally generic and par for the course from Music Row at the moment, bolstering the career of just another bro whose got nothing exceptional or unique to offer compared to the two or three dozen other bros clogging up the charts for better-quality songs that are curiously on the rise on country radio at the moment.
Jordan Davis gives kick ass beards a bad name, just like his stupid song “Singles You Up” does for country. Leave the beards to the likes of Cody Jinks and Whitey Morgan there champ.
April 3, 2018 @ 8:08 am
“Leave the beards to the likes of Cody Jinks and Whitey Morgan there champ.”
Well done, sir.
April 3, 2018 @ 8:11 am
Oh… and WTF does “singles you up” even mean? Jesus Christo.
(Yes, I figured out what it means….just pointing out that this guy is a clown.)
April 3, 2018 @ 8:13 am
Bitching much?
April 3, 2018 @ 9:50 am
Zat you, Jordan?
April 3, 2018 @ 8:13 am
I was wracking my brain today trying to remember the album coming out on 4/20 that I was interested in. Then, I saw this article and remembered. Joshua Hedley. So, thanks!
April 3, 2018 @ 8:47 am
Brothers Osborne also comes out on April 20.
April 3, 2018 @ 9:14 am
This site needs a calendar to keep track of release dates. I don’t know how many times I’ve missed good albums only to remember months later that they had a new album coming out
April 3, 2018 @ 11:29 am
Tried that. Lots of data entry, and literally nobody paid attention to it. However I do lists of upcoming releases at the beginning of the year, and this year I’m going to be posting another probably in late May for the 2nd half of the year.
April 3, 2018 @ 12:37 pm
Bummer. I’ll just have to keep my own calendar.
April 3, 2018 @ 11:47 am
That’s as true as all git out
April 3, 2018 @ 9:25 am
Also Ashley Monroe’s album Sparrow
April 3, 2018 @ 12:17 pm
Right. Thanks.
April 4, 2018 @ 7:22 am
And Charley Crockett’s “Lonesome as a Shadow”.
April 3, 2018 @ 8:18 am
KILLER stuff here Trigger….just KILLER !
these guys and this music are becoming easier marks by the day , it seems , but you manage to consistently up your game in spite of that….
April 3, 2018 @ 8:26 am
This tune is all over my local mainstream country station.
He (and his song) remind me so much of Sam Hunt…
And don’t for a gaddarn’ moment take that as a compliment.
April 3, 2018 @ 8:32 am
The line “does he want you to be a little more city” seems ironic considering the production of this “song.”
Making fun of his beard might be taking it a little far though. I get it, this song (and everything it represents) sucks. But, respectfully, making fun of his appearance makes this more high school name calling and too “you’re not authentic enough to look like that,” than it needs to be. It’s bad on enough levels already anyway. Just my 2 cents.
April 3, 2018 @ 8:35 am
Jordan?
April 3, 2018 @ 9:13 am
Sigh, this was supposed to be a reply to Fibrynka.
April 3, 2018 @ 10:09 am
Yes??
April 3, 2018 @ 8:44 am
More comforting burble from the second-best for the unlimited market of female self-regard.
April 3, 2018 @ 9:29 am
not gonna lie, I saw this guy recently do a show at a small listening room in Decatur Ga. My take away was, that he was actually pretty talented, but is being sucked into the Nashville/Music Row black hole. it was just him and a couple of guys with acoustic guitars. He didn’t have anything to hide behind, it was completely stripped down. he even did a pretty kick ass version of Son’s Gonna Rise, by Citizen Cope. With that being said this song sucks. I hope he makes his money early, falls off of the map, then reemerges as singer song writer type of dude.
April 3, 2018 @ 11:11 am
He did an interview on taste of country nights and said his favorite type of artist to see and listen to is Jason Isbell. He went to a Ryman show of his.
April 5, 2018 @ 8:30 am
Yeah I had a similar experience. I had the misfortune of having to sit through one of his horrendously pop opening sets at a Kip Moore show (the most disappointing opener I’ve ever seen with Kip). The surprising thing is though, later in Kip’s show he brought Jordan back out with Drake White (other opener) to do a rendition of “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and Jordan’s voice was absolutely incredible on that song. I literally just stood there gaping thinking “Why the hell is this dude singing shitty pop music when he has a voice like that?!”
So yeah, his music sucks, but he actually has a phenomenal voice.
April 3, 2018 @ 9:45 am
“All On Me” by Devin Dawson recently peaked at #2, what do you think of it? It sounds good to me in a maistream sort of way.
This one isn’t very interesting, but it’s not too bad. Ditto for the current top 5 hit by High Valley (“She’s With Me”). I mean, they’re not actually good, just ok for radio and not offensive.
April 3, 2018 @ 10:13 am
I would also like to hear Trigger’s comments on Russell Dickerson’s “Yours.” It’s one of the most pop songs I’ve heard on country radio, but lyrically is actually pretty good.
April 3, 2018 @ 10:09 am
““Singles You Up” isn’t exceptionally bad, it’s just exceptionally generic and par for the course from Music Row at the moment.”
I’m gonna have to disagree. Usually I am forgiving of pop country if it sounds good, but this is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. This is lyrically on par with “Body Like a Back Road.” I mean, look at the chorus:
“If he ever singles you up, if he’s ever stupid enough
I’ma be the first one calling you baby”
Who hears this and thinks this is what should be pushed on radio and how do they still have a job?
April 3, 2018 @ 10:43 am
I agree that this song is bad. Personally I think it raises a deeper and darker question about people in general.
I do disagree with the country radio part. It fits right in with country radio in 2018.
The bigger question is how does the average listener think that this and other bro country shite they hear on the radio is good? I can’t imagine settling for bland, generic, commercial, uncreative and not even well crafted advertisements like this. What does it say about the people that think this is good music? I wonder if there is a part of their brain that is underdeveloped. And I’m not saying that to be funny. I’m genuinely curious.
April 3, 2018 @ 11:28 am
I think a lot of it has to do with the decline of music education in schools. Music education for me opened up new worlds and exposed me to everything from pop ballads to spirituals to Broadway show tunes to goofy novelty songs from the ’40s. It taught me to appreciate many different genres of music. These days all kids know of music is what they hear on the radio or on their Spotify playlists or whatever. Their horizons are much narrower.
April 3, 2018 @ 11:59 am
I also think that most (but not all) younger people today just look at music as throw-away background noise. Maybe it is because they no longer have anything permanent (either record or CD). Not to be the old man on the porch but I remember when albums came out. I remember buying specific albums the day they were released. We talked about them and debated them. Today for many people, it is just some background noise from their Spotify playlist that is replaced by some newer background noise in a week or two.
April 4, 2018 @ 4:17 pm
I agree that the lack of a physical product makes for a disposable sensibility. It used to be you had to think about where to actually put your music collection and maybe make choices but for most younger people today that is not an issue. Instead it can just be background noise or even just a lark. When you had to pay for each and every choice it made for a lot more discerning consumer.
I also strongly believe that this is going to lead to far less long careers as fewer and fewer people are going to feel great personal connections with artists.
April 3, 2018 @ 3:30 pm
”The bigger question is how does the average listener think that this and other bro country shite they hear on the radio is good? I can’t imagine settling for bland, generic, commercial, uncreative and not even well crafted advertisements like this. What does it say about the people that think this is good music? I wonder if there is a part of their brain that is underdeveloped. And I’m not saying that to be funny. I’m genuinely curious.”
Isn’t this exactly the question Scott ?And yes …its easy to say stuff like this and be funny ….but in all seriousness you’ve nailed it . What DOES it say about folks who think this is good ? How did THOSE folks become the barometer for country radio . Are they simply easy marks ? Disposable income ? A could-not-care-less industry ALWAYS looking at $$$$ ?
It really seems sometimes like there are 3 teen-aged guys holed-up in a bunker running the whole shootin match because the REAL management gave up on it when Napster happened and just walked away and left the door unlocked to whoever wanted to wander in and play like radio guys . Its just like some stupid kid’s game now …..makes no sense ….pisses people off ….attracts the least unique and gifted amongst us and just keeps on somehow . I mean …..it is so much like the Trump scenario . A joker with NO political experience or background playing president . And that’s not me , a Canadian , slamming Americans whatsoever . That’s me and everybody in our country standing with our mouths agape and wondering how long ” the folks in the States ” will let that go on .
And that’s the same way I feel about country radio . How long are they gonna let that stupid shit go on ? What does THAT say about a culture ?
April 3, 2018 @ 11:23 am
I hate the track.
Nash-Trash sung by a no name with a brother who is in the business too (Jacob Davis – “What I Wanna Be”).
Much Better Music:
– The Western Distributors – The Western Distributors – Album – Australia – 03/23
Back to the 50’s/60’s sound. Mix of country, honky-tonk, swing & rockabilly.
The album is on constant repeat & on my list for album of the year. My highlight: “The Man Who Stole The Blues”
– Kris Cummins – “Coming Down With Something” – Single – Australia – 02/23
Promising debut. Ballad. #16 on the Australian Country Tracks Top 40.
– Chalkie White – “New Day” & “Gingerbread Man” – Singles – Australia
Debut album will be released next week (My Song Isn’t Written Yet – 04/13).
“Gingerbread Man” is new on #25 (Australian Country Tracks Top 40)
– Ricky Cook – Thanks A Lot Loretta! – Album – USA – 04/02
Traditional sound & not always so-serious lyrics. My highlight: “It’s All In The Kiss” (sounds like an Exile track).
April 3, 2018 @ 11:24 am
This song sounds like “I wanna sex you up” by Color Me Bad (circa 1990…anyone?) It seems like more and more radio “country” is a rip-off of 90’s pop. Yes, I listened to some horrible crap as a kid before I discovered AJ, Travis (Randy and Tritt), and Garth, but I’m not making that mistake these days.
April 3, 2018 @ 11:26 am
Song is typical 2010’s mainstream country garbage but I wouldn’t exactly turn my radio dial off in disgust if I heard it. However, having scenes of the music video recorded vertically as if on a smartphone warrants getting dumped out of a helicopter Pinochet-style.
April 3, 2018 @ 12:01 pm
Jordan Davis doesn’t have a kickass beard, though. He has an “I’m a 20something frat bro with no confidence in my masculinity” beard
April 3, 2018 @ 12:23 pm
He looks like a hipster
April 4, 2018 @ 1:53 am
I kept wondering where his flannel shirt was….
April 3, 2018 @ 12:53 pm
It’s like Music row is not even trying to put out country music anymore. These new wave of tools all sound alike, like ear aching, dogs barking, painful crap. It’s like all the bad fads in music over the past 10 years meshed into one, and yes that includes some of the Indie Rock fad. I feel like Music Row is saying hey country music dinosaurs we gave you Stapleton who really isn’t 100% country but he is our perception of what yall think is country. “satisfied now?’
Also, Music Row gave us Jon Pardi and Ashley McBryde, but i feel like Music row and the label suits are now overcompensating with this new wave of crap. I accidently heard that song by Filmore on Nash Nights Live and it was awful. Nothing country about it. Same with this single you up crap. Cole Swindell actually has a good song out right now.
And what’s sad is that Lower Broad now reflects this new wave of the latest Music Row experiment. It’s mostly country edm house mix. And this is what the new age of confused country fans and even young Gen Xers think of country.
April 3, 2018 @ 12:57 pm
Jordan looks like one of those Austin hipsters that roam Rainey St on Sunday with his Vans Gear on. Jordan looks like one of those hipsters that went to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros shows in 2010 but never got their music.
April 3, 2018 @ 1:10 pm
Yall are waaaaay too kind about this aural abomination. I’m just talking as a red blooded american man here, but I would be absolutely ashamed….ASHAMED, to have recorded this. Absolute pure rot. There is nothing remotely country about this. Even looking at it as a “pop” song, which it is, it’s a complete turd on all levels. Lyrics are juvenile, and that’s giving it the benefit of the doubt, instrumentation ? Really? And whats that he’s singing through? Sounds like one of those “urban voice modulators” found in hip-hop. Horrible. How stupid are radio listeners? And the cultural cancer continues….
April 3, 2018 @ 6:50 pm
“How stupid are radio listeners?”……..sadly they’re sheeple and they will love whatever the radio tells them to by hearing the same Pop songs by many bad artists over and over again on Country radio. It’s not that they’re stupid, they just don’t know or don’t care nor do they have the time to seek quality or anything non mainstream. Most of them are totally unaware of the incredible music/artists I’ve learned about from this site and the people on it. That’s their loss.
April 3, 2018 @ 4:04 pm
“But she doesn’t care because she’s banging the fry cook who co-wrote a #1 with Chris Lane.”
That made me lol.
April 3, 2018 @ 5:43 pm
Generic pop bullshit from a generic, marginally talented performer who doesn’t have what it takes to be a pop star, so he shoots for the lowest common denominator that is mainstream “country” circa 2018.
NEXT.
April 3, 2018 @ 5:47 pm
I can’t believe you gave this song such a high rating
April 3, 2018 @ 6:32 pm
I don’t know about you, but I can’t distinguish the mainstream male country singers of the past five years apart with the exception of Jon Pardi, William Michael Morgan, Mo Pitney, Chris Stapleton, Charlie Worsham, Frankie Ballard, Kip Moore, and to an extent, Chris Janson.
April 3, 2018 @ 8:32 pm
I’d also add Drake White. I knew I forgot someone.
April 3, 2018 @ 9:43 pm
Many of them are generic. The ones you mentioned also stand out to me as having talent and you can actually remember who they are when you hear one of their songs. Michael Ray is another id add to the list as he has a distinct voice and distinct sound.
April 3, 2018 @ 6:38 pm
you’re a better man than I amanda ……
only one I could identify from that lot would be stapleton ,
April 3, 2018 @ 6:47 pm
what a total monotonous borefest this excuse for a song is .no talent around for miles
shame on nashville , shame on this guy and shame on anyone lazy enough to support this with time or dollars .paying any attention to ‘music’ like this is the epitome of a moronic , mindless pastime .
there are way, way better , way smarter , more melodic , more emotion-driven and far more substance-fueled songs on a sesame street album.
April 3, 2018 @ 9:42 pm
Not gonna lie, I love this song and I listened to his new album which isnt too bad for being pop country. However, I agree with you that he is a total hipster and has no country look to him. He also does not have a voice that stands out, or one that is very good either. This article is hilarious, and very true. Great write up Trig. I might buy the album, you can tell he tried to keep a bit of a country sound to it and not go full blown pop with it.
April 3, 2018 @ 10:09 pm
SJ …..with all due respect …….if you love THIS song, …..if this song REALLY does it for you …I can direct you toward 25 others off the top of my head that are so much better they will bring your ears to orgasm .
April 3, 2018 @ 10:31 pm
Just a fun song i listen to when im extremely depressed…makes me feel better
April 4, 2018 @ 8:15 am
I like it too, slightly reminiscent of Blue Period Miles Davis but with some post bop modal experimental stuff from his more avant garde albums like Bitches Brew.
All in all an enjoyable song with a nice hook in the Sugar Ray Samuel Hunt vein of country.
April 4, 2018 @ 4:08 pm
I KNEW someone would drag Miles into this …..never fails .
Six degrees , y’know ..
April 4, 2018 @ 5:47 am
Music Row’s newest phase: take the success of Chris Stapleton’s beard, not Stapleton’s singing pipes and song quality mind you, just the beard, and slap it on a Bro.
ONWARD, BRO!
April 4, 2018 @ 7:57 am
hahahahaha
this is exactly how music row seems to operate …..funny
April 4, 2018 @ 6:09 am
Turned on the radio at work and THIS song was playing. Said “Fuck NO” & promptly changed the station. This is not country in the least. Music Row is scraping the bottom of the damn barrel with this one and I’m not taking the bait.
April 4, 2018 @ 2:00 pm
Imma turn this off.
April 4, 2018 @ 3:12 pm
It’s a godawful song. It’s gotten to a point with mainstream country music where imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and now we’re sampling songs like they do in hip-hop.
Country music does need to grow & evolve. However, it can evolve while paying honor it’s roots and respecting tradition. This song ain’t an evolution of country music. It ain’t even country to begin with. It’s dumpster juice that has NO place in country music.
April 6, 2018 @ 1:40 pm
Troy, what we should do is call this kind of thing “rap music.” Let rap music “evolve” by including these country douches. Is the rap community such a bunch of closed-minded old farts and jackasses that they won’t allow their genre to evolve? And so on. We’d probably do more good if we went on websites dedicated to rap music and insist that Jordan Davis be accepted among them as an evolution of rap.
But oh, the fur will fly.
April 6, 2018 @ 11:48 pm
Also what is up with young dude buying and wearing shirts with holes in them? It just makes me think of the song “Common People” by Pulp and I just want to rage.
April 13, 2018 @ 1:18 pm
You know Trigger I see you messin’ with us 20-somethings you look down on as “bros”. Guess what pops, we like takin’ selfies, drinkin’ beer, posting to social media, and pullin’ chicks, so what, get over it you old fart. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with us havin’ beards either. It pisses me off you continue to attack pop country artists and other 20 somethings. We are bros, we will band together. That’s a good thing. My boy Jordan’s new song is super lit. You should really stop attacking them as people. We da future of country music. Your old shit is just that, shit. Go listen to it and get off the internet because us young guns got it goin’ on. Sam Hunt is the best thing that ever happened to this genre. Facts. Jus’ sayin’ gramps. GTFO.