Song Review – HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson – “Wait in the Truck”
It’s going to be hard for some distinguishing music fans to acknowledge that the paradigm in mainstream country is shifting. At this point, lashing out at any artist on corporate radio is an act of muscle memory, and often unlearning those motions is harder than learning them. This most certainly doesn’t mean there still isn’t dreck being dumped into the country radio format, and like the solids in a cesspool, that tend to rise to the surface, and fester. But it’s not 2014 anymore where we’re in the throes of Bro-Country, and dry heaving at the emergence of Sam Hunt.
Even though some mainstream fans will praise him like he’s the modern day Townes Van Zandt or something, HARDY has been mostly been one of the bad guys in mainstream country, crafting songs for Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett and the like, along with some of the worst singles from better artists like Dierks Bentley. But his new song “Wait in the Truck” featuring Lainey Wilson is stimulating a lot of discussion—something that’s novel for a country radio single all unto itself. Usually the aim of most of today’s radio country is to shut your brain off.
Written by Hardy with Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt and Renee Blair, “Wait in the Truck” is a story song, and not a succinct one. Part revenge story, part murder ballad, it can’t be pile-driven home enough just how unusual it is for a song like this to be presented to the mainstream audience. It’s not exceptional, but it is exceptional for mainstream country. It’s also actually country.
Telling the story of a stranger rolling through town and finding a woman on the side of the road who’s been beaten by her boyfriend, the protagonist then hunts the boyfriend down and kills him unrepentantly, later smoking a cigarette on the porch, patiently waiting for the police to arrive. The story is then carried over to the court and jail, where the audience is forced to grapple with considering if the narrator of the story is a hero, or a sinner, or a strange combination of both.
Lainey Wilson comes in as the victim of the beating, and her appearance on a song like this once again places her front and center as one of the more forward-thinking and more country voices currently in the mainstream. It’s just a shame it has to be done in a “feat.” slot again, though this is leagues better than her recent #1 single with Cole Swindell, or her own current single “Heart Like a Truck.” With a new album out in late October to be chased by appearances on the blockbuster TV show Yellowstone, Lainey’s poised to have a big finale at the end of 2022 when this song could also be topping radio charts.
There are a few caveats to throw in with all the praise this song is receiving. Though you have to give credit to “Wait in the Truck” for its boldness and for actually telling a story, do we really find it believable, and do we really want to endorse this type of mercenary justice? There are two sides to every story, and according to the song, the domestic violence victim didn’t even really tell hers in detail. “Wait in the Truck” is more vengeance fantasy than cautionary tale. But the way the song makes you ponder the different outcomes and decisions and ask, “Was it worth it?” is what makes it unique.
That’s also what makes it an important song in the country mainstream: it actually makes you think.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
August 26, 2022 @ 10:03 am
Not saying it’s great but it’s actually not bad in my opinion. Certainly better than 99% of what you hear on country terrestrial radio these days. Can’t put my finger on it but something about it sorta has that same vibe as Long Black Veil.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:51 pm
Also harken back to HANK Jr.’s “I’ve Got Rights” and Jason Isbell’s “Yvette”.
August 26, 2022 @ 4:44 pm
And The Antebellum Chicks “Goodbye Earl”.
April 19, 2023 @ 5:08 am
Do you mean “DIXIE CHICKS” or “LADY ANTEBELLUM”!?
There’s no such group as ”Lady Chicks”!?
August 27, 2022 @ 6:24 pm
Don’t forget…Hardy also wrote/sang Rednecker. Awesome.
January 10, 2023 @ 3:49 pm
I disagree, at least in the case of Isbell, what makes that song work is that the narrator repeatedly witnesses the abuse before taking steps to put an end to it. This “Stay in the Truck” song is shit because it makes the narrator seem like an unhinged maniac. Breaking into a house and shooting the first guy he sees who might not even be the abuser and is reaching for his shotgun because, you know, there’s a maniac breaking down his door.
February 16, 2023 @ 7:40 am
Glad I’m not the only one who thought this. Had to listen to this song because it was added to a setlist for a gig and I agree with your take 100%
Also Long Black Veil is the pinnacle for folk/country songs. Any comparisons fall way short.
August 26, 2022 @ 10:26 am
Going to have to give this a fair play through but it’s promising if this does well. I haven’t paid attention to any Hardy given his past writing credits but Lainey Wilson is someone I think is good for the mainstream.
Calling this song “leagues better” than Heart Like a Truck is a stretch IMO.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:16 pm
But better than anything by Cole Swindell? Most definitely.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:51 pm
“Heart Like a Truck” is not terrible. But my goodness, mentioning “truck” in a song as anything more than a descriptor to move the story along just immediately renders it as cliche. Wade Bowen released “Songs About Trucks” in 2013. That was nearly a decade ago, and it’s still relevant.
August 26, 2022 @ 10:32 am
https://www.reverbnation.com/slimwhiteandtheaverys/song/9945171-wait-in-the-truck
Very different song.
August 26, 2022 @ 11:11 am
Every once in a while, Hardy will f*ck up, and craft a song that doesn’t suck.
August 26, 2022 @ 11:13 am
I’ve never heard anything quite like this song before but it’s good. Like most of Hardy’s better stuff, the imagery is awesome. The visual of the singer sitting on the porch after committing a murder, calmly smoking one of the dead man’s cigarettes is one that sticks with me.
Hardy’s debut album was hard to pin down, but it was excellent music powered by excellent lyricism. Then he fell off the wagon into the worst of country radio, with the Hixtape 2 stuff. This feels like a return to what I liked about Hardy. If he releases more music like this, he could be a major player in shifting the sound of mainstream radio.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:53 pm
It could help shift stuff, because Hardy writes so many songs for others, and if this succeeds, it will create an avenue for more story songs to be considered. I rarely review individual songs. This one feels like an important one.
August 26, 2022 @ 1:47 pm
Love your take on it. I listened because I like lainey and had the same sentiments. It’s odd finishing wondering, this didn’t suck am I losing it?
January 29, 2023 @ 7:25 pm
I like it. Entertainment….. Name if the game!!
August 26, 2022 @ 11:25 am
This song is so anti-woke it probably will not see the light of day. Which is, of course, why I like it. They say country music tells a story. Well, we’ll see if country music plays the story.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:15 pm
In the words of Tyler Mahan Coe, “Thanks for bringing politics into this post. I was worried someone wouldn’t do that.”
August 26, 2022 @ 4:39 pm
Tyler is a sad, sad guy. Lotta demons he needs to work on.
June 2, 2024 @ 6:32 am
Perhaps you ‘re right about Mr. Tyler Coe, but damned if he doesn’t make some entertaining thought provoking podcasts.
August 26, 2022 @ 5:30 pm
Richard,
The purpose of my comment is concerning radio play and the filter being applied by many in the industry. The subject of which Trigger had very often written about.
Sorry but a bit deeper comment than how you interpreted it.
August 27, 2022 @ 2:10 pm
Um, no. Woke people are very concerned and angry about domestic violence and I think will embrace this song. Everybody likes seeing violent assholes get what’s coming to them. Even if they don’t say it, they think it.
I love Wait in the Truck….
August 27, 2022 @ 3:34 pm
Woke people are only concerned with what looks good on social media.
They have no moral center.
August 27, 2022 @ 3:43 pm
Um, woke people are woke because we care about others and their problems. That is the very definition of woke. Aware of the world’s injustices.
September 1, 2022 @ 12:17 pm
I was once this naive.
Then I grew up and put away childish things.
August 29, 2022 @ 8:05 am
There are crazies at the end of each spectrum. Those screaming on Twitter about being woke or those being anti-woke are both awful. The majority of us realize that racism, sexism, and homophobia still exist and just want to help address it so no one has to live a worse life because of how they were born. But hey, if you want to make a whole personality out of hating woke people, go on and get it.
October 27, 2022 @ 11:05 am
You’re boring
August 26, 2022 @ 11:32 am
Country radio could use more story songs. You, me, and the river would be a cool radio single by Chris Janson ft. Eric Church.
August 26, 2022 @ 11:43 am
I prefer Carla Came Home
August 26, 2022 @ 6:55 pm
One of my favorite Christmas songs.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:29 pm
A one-named guy?
“Hardy?” Is that supposed to carry gravitas like “Prince” or “Sting?”
And he’s “written” “songs” for FGL?
Yeah, I’m gonna need at least $20 to hit the play button.
August 26, 2022 @ 9:01 pm
Sometimes you have ideas for songs that can make money so you can find your own career. Jamey Johnson cowrote “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”, yet still managed to write “In Color”. Pay the bills while living your dream, not a bad way to go. And I don’t even like Hardy. If fgl could have made me money, I’d have written them whatever drivel they wanted to puke out onstage. Doesn’t mean I would have stood behind it
August 27, 2022 @ 6:45 am
Based only on Your Username… You have awful takes and tastes..
August 27, 2022 @ 2:25 pm
You know, I liked Pardi till I saw him live. He was super whiny, complained about the lights, wore sunglasses and still bitched about them, complained about the sound, just came off as bitchy and unpleasant.
And being that this concert was in the pool area of a Vegas casino (90° at night plus add humidity from all the pools) the standing room audience wasn’t comfy either but we were coping with it, so his attitude was really not appreciated.
Lainey Wilson was great tho, really a fan of hers now.
August 27, 2022 @ 5:20 pm
Pardi has a goofy sense of humor. He was prob awkwardly making fun of the lighting situation.
Whenever I see him, he makes fun of himself for excessively sweating and for having allergies. He’s an awkward conversationalist for sure. But he puts on a great show still
August 27, 2022 @ 5:31 pm
If you like Jon pardi, by default you like fgl because they’re the same singer. Where you at where you at where you at, get real.
August 27, 2022 @ 8:25 pm
Are you taking about T- Hubbs? The pop twang Christian youth leader?
August 29, 2022 @ 4:45 pm
What!? I like Pardi but hate FGL
August 26, 2022 @ 1:07 pm
He may have released some pretty bad stuff but I’ll listen to the good songs and skip the bad
August 26, 2022 @ 1:15 pm
Wow, the darkness of the song reminds me of Johnny cash’s DEALIA’S GONE. don’t know how this song will be accepted, but I give the guy points for having the guts to do a song like this.
August 26, 2022 @ 1:16 pm
Kid Rock shaved his hair!
August 27, 2022 @ 5:25 pm
“Can’t wait for G.I. Kid Rock 2” – Chris Rock
August 26, 2022 @ 1:17 pm
I can see why people would like this. I am not one of those people, but I can understand the appeal. The production/sound is not something I like, but I think the song has a good story. The hook at the end was good. The part about sending the guy to Hell. So it took four people to write that? Why?
August 26, 2022 @ 2:42 pm
It’s impossible for Lainey to not sound country, so this is the probably the most country song Hardy has released. It’s not horrible, but doubt I’ll give it another listen.
August 26, 2022 @ 3:05 pm
Reminds me of the Lewis Grizzard story about some guy at a Roy Clark show who kept asking (very loudly) if he ever picked cotton. Roy finally had enough and said, “I thought I told you to stay in the truck”, meaning, “Shut up and stop being an embarrassment.”
That’s it. That’s all I had to contribute.
August 26, 2022 @ 4:01 pm
Lewis Grizzard. That man was brilliant.
August 26, 2022 @ 3:08 pm
Kind of a cool song, but it should end right at 2:14. In real life, the dude inside would be sitting with the 12ga in his lap after someone was banging on his door in the middle of a stormy night, haha. As soon as he kicks in the door…goodnight. Then he goes and takes care of the girl in the truck. Don’t try to be a hero in real life kids!
August 26, 2022 @ 5:04 pm
I’ve been in the situation before dude took his gf in the bathroom at the bar punched her like 4 times for kissing a girl others heard it but just sat there(you were probably there that night) but anyways beat his ass.
August 26, 2022 @ 5:40 pm
Yep, you’re so much tougher and braver than me. I guess you’re too dumb to understand.y post was partly in jest… and obviously you’re situation is different than what I explained. But thanks for letting us all know that you’re the tough hero that you are!
August 27, 2022 @ 8:27 am
????
August 26, 2022 @ 3:46 pm
I’ll go on record saying that I like this song, no follow up.
August 27, 2022 @ 3:03 am
How about a reply back all? Sir, I have some questions
August 26, 2022 @ 4:04 pm
I lived that nightmare for 16 1/2 years married to my abuser, who did everything from punching, kicking, slapping, tying me up and beating me, sodomizing me, raping me, forcing me to do oral sex on him, and finally sexually molesting my 2 minor sisters at the ages of 11 and 14 years old while I was taking care of my mom with terminal lung cancer and my brother in law with terminal stomach cancer at the same time…….then he started loading a gun and putting it in my mouth every day before he went to work……I was blessed enough to have family and friends who helped me go into hiding with my children. My sisters went back to live with my dad and became drug addicts, two of the three sisters have died from opioid overdoses.
August 26, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
See, I’m not in on this. It reeks of “I’m a badass,” which minimizes its effect.
August 26, 2022 @ 6:49 pm
It sounds ok. Personally I like the song by Chris janson mentioned above better. You, me, and the river. I can relate to that better. Far as the guy in the song. He isn’t a hero. Not saying any woman deserves to be beat but maybe she was putting him through some hell as well. Now if it was young 8 year old kid in the road all beat up and sexually abused by an adult, I can get behind killing that person. He would be a hero.
August 26, 2022 @ 7:26 pm
The theme of when murder is justified is common in good songs.
What about Gretchen Peters’ ‘Whichita’? Thats a kid killing a guy for molesting her mum, then her, then trying to make a move on her little sister. I support that kid.
August 27, 2022 @ 3:26 pm
Peters also wrote Martina McBride’s “Independence Day,” in which a woman burns the house down, killing her alcoholic, abusive husband in the process. The song (bombastic and overwrought, so of course it was a radio hit) is short on detail, and I’ve always had a problem with murder as response to alcoholism. I had to review a McBride set once when she was opening for Brooks and Dunn and mentioned my problem with all the women in the audience standing and cheering wildly after that song. After the review was published, I heard from some of them personally, as you might imagine.
August 27, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
Valid point. And I have often considered that there needs to be a legal class for songwriters.
From Carrie Underwood ‘before he cheats’ (vandalism/damage) to ‘too pretty for prison’ [I think thats its title] with hiring a hitman.
Incidentally Matraca Berg is way more insidious in ‘Your Husband’s cheating on us’ where she sets the guy up for a divorce where he loses everything. All legal.
There is a big difference between the way Gretchen Peters plays independance day and Martina. The original is a story, when she says ‘I aint saying if its right or if its wrong’, Gretchen seems genuinely not passing judgement and only talking about a messed up situation. Martina is obviously siding with the woman.
Likewise with ‘Wichita’, Peters doesn’t say it was correct, just what happened in the story. And if you listen to it, the kid really does way up her options and wait until its critical.
August 26, 2022 @ 7:44 pm
Fully expected a play on words with ‘wait in the truck’ and ‘weight in the truck’ where they hauled the body of the abuser somewhere to dump it (weight in the back), and then the overall feeling of the weight of the situation after it was all over in the silence between them in the truck. I also think it’s too much of a stretch that the Hardy character in the song would kill the abuser and risk life in prison.
August 27, 2022 @ 7:42 am
I agree, that would have been a good play on words, but I know how hard it is to find good people.
August 26, 2022 @ 10:59 pm
Full disclosure: haven’t listened to the song or read the lyrics, only just now heard of it and read your summary of the story. But why does it have to be a guy swooping in and “fixing” everything for a woman who’s been victimized by another man? Nothing against men, but that trope is old and overdone and leaves me with a feeling of ick. It’s not like women don’t support each other, yet they’re never (rarely?) the subject of a song like that. There was that one mainstream one a whole ago with two singers, something about two black Cadillacs. But I can’t think of any others offhand.
August 27, 2022 @ 7:43 am
Carrie Underwood had “Two Black Cadillacs” and “Church Bells”, both of which involve a woman “taking charge” as some would say.
August 27, 2022 @ 10:00 am
Really? I’d _almost_ say the woman taking charge is the cliche in modern country music. Just off the top of my head there’s Independence Day, Gunpowder and Lead, Goodbye Earl, 5 or 6 Carrie Underwood songs, Roses by the Dozen (gotta throw a little JLW in there). Not that I don’t love all those songs.
August 27, 2022 @ 3:00 am
Hardy is booked to sing this one at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards ????
August 27, 2022 @ 8:09 am
Great song. I don’t always like Hardy songs but this is very good. Domestic violence is a difficult subject matter for a song. Hardy pulled it off. Lainey Wilson has an amazing voice. She deserves to be winning the cm awards now.
August 27, 2022 @ 8:36 am
WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
From the first listen something has been bugging me about this song. I didn’t want to just give a hot take, but now I’ve got it figured out. My conclusion? This song is FUCKING STUPID. It should have ended in the first verse with him taking the lady to a police station. The abuser would then go to prison instead of him. If it was in the moment, then yeah, shoot the guy and save the girl, but to go and murder the guy to get revenge for a stranger is absolutely retarded. Then he could have gotten her help to find a temporary place to stay, and if he wanted to, he could support her financially. He would still be her hero, and who knows what good things happen after that? Maybe he gets laid! Instead, now he’s getting plowed by the thugs in prison. But hey, at least he gets a visit on the other side of the glass every once in a while. Lazy writing!
August 27, 2022 @ 9:48 am
As I said in the review, I think the revenge fantasy aspect of this and how the story is a bit unbelievable holds it back. I would have loved to see them weave this into more of a cautionary tale. But the fact that we’re all playing out different scenarios in our brain of how this could have turned out is a sign of good songwriting. The Lainey Wilson character at some point says, “I don’t know if he’s an angel,’Cause angels don’t do what he did.” It leaves the judgement ambiguous, and allows the audience to draw conclusions.
And again, let’s just appreciate this is being released to mainstream country radio. This is a very rare story song being sent to that audience.
August 27, 2022 @ 11:04 am
That’s fair. Agree to disagree.
August 27, 2022 @ 11:45 am
I have a few points to add what Trig posted.
This song clearly isn’t selling the vigilante way as the answer. It isn’t as detailed a narrative as Whispering Bill’s opus “The Cold Hard Facts of Life” but I think it’s appropriate for what life in 2022 is like.
I don’t mean for this to be political, but the past two and a half years have warped our collective psyche in a way that we haven’t experienced.
I have worked in an urban criminal courthouse in a small “blue” state. Depravity happens. I’m glad I’m ot there now because it’s apparent that there are an awful lot of very unbalanced behavior going on ranging from more children self-harming to road rage incidents spiraling out of control and revenge killings over seemingly trivial matters.
“If it bleeds, it leads” has always been the driver but there is simply more of this going on. We’re going to being cleaning this up for generation or more.
So, I could actually see someone like Hardy’s character doing something this rash. The character could have grown up in a violent household or been exposed to this life another way. He can be an unmoored soul with an uncentered life traveling through another non-descript town – pretty common stuff for a country song – with a loaded gun at the ready because that’s how his life has shaped up.
That’s just my two cents and you can think I’m insightful or deluded. It’s pretty interesting how the guy who gave us wisdom like “I’m red-necker than you” has us trying to be amateur Chet Flippos at our laptops.
“Strange days indeed, most peculiar, Mama” Lennon might say.
November 15, 2022 @ 1:20 pm
“It should have ended in the first verse with him taking the lady to a police station. The abuser would then go to prison instead of him.”
Really?
The song reminds me of “The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia”. Except the killing is a lot more justified in this case than when little “sis” takes care of a couple of adulterers and inadvertently causes her older brother’s hanging.
Perhaps some people haven’t been up on current events, but recently in New York, an abuser was arrested for violating a protective order and then was released on no cash bail and returned and killed the woman in front of her children.
This blind belief that “the system works” is pretty naive if you ask me. So no, taking the woman to the police department in a small country town where everyone knows everyone is not a guarantee that the woman would get justice or that her abuser would be punished.
The vengeance fantasy part is there admittedly, but he doesn’t escape justice (unlike Vicki Lawrence’s character). He’s been in 5 years and “and I might be here forever” makes it pretty clear he got a life sentence for his actions.
But bottom line…It’s a song. I’m not sure I heard anyone complain how unrealistic it was for a man to be tried, convicted, sentenced and executed “before” dinner, back in 1973.
August 27, 2022 @ 8:56 am
I do like the sound and production tho.
August 27, 2022 @ 10:53 am
I didn’t like how both Hardy and Lainey Wilson sang the chorus, when only Lainey should’ve been singing it, as it was from her point of view. Other than that, it’s a decent song.
August 27, 2022 @ 10:55 am
This is the perfect boyfriend country song.
The guy has pity on a woman, kills her abuser, and gets thrown in jail for life. His reward is that the girl comes and visits him. He says “it was worth the price to see a brighter side of the girl I picked up that night.”
Ka-ching go the cash registers.
August 27, 2022 @ 3:39 pm
Yeah seriously. It is basically white knight the song.
If it wasn’t Hardy, I would give the creators credit for hawking back to the medieval literature tradition of saving the damsel in distress. But this is 2022. Playing that role is just asking for trouble. In real life, call the cops and let them handle it. Too many stories out there of some guy trying to do the right thing only for the victim to reenact her confession.
August 28, 2022 @ 12:03 pm
Except, did he ”kill her abuser?” He barged into a stranger’s home and just shot the very first person he saw. Bad guy could have been in the bathroom while his innocent brother, having no idea what happened, was watching TV on the couch
August 27, 2022 @ 4:13 pm
I heard this on Sirius Highway channel yesterday… Immediately fell in love with it! Hard hitting story telling at it’s finest keep up the great songs!
August 27, 2022 @ 5:42 pm
Off topic maybe? But all the talk about similar songs, this one based on a true story and absolutely killer live
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf3joPgoBM
August 28, 2022 @ 5:10 am
The classic revenge song… Does radio play this stuff? I lasted about ten seconds into this song. It’s just…slow. Years ago I produced a recording of a song, “Diggin’ A Hole”. The refrain ends with “…and I’m diggin’ a hole for you.” I was always uncomfortable with the sentiment expressed in that song and it remains unreleased. You’re welcome.
August 28, 2022 @ 7:11 am
I hate to say it’d, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this song “stalls” on the BDS Country National Airplay Chart.
August 28, 2022 @ 8:32 am
I am genuinely WOWED by this song. Admittedly, i pay no attention to a guy who goes by one name in all caps, as if hes some kind of pop star. But, lo and behold, there is some substance here.
Country music has a long tradition of killin songs. From Knoxville Gal by Louvin Bros, Pretty Polly by Stanley Bros , to Delias Gone, to Hank Jrs, Ive Been Down, Paychecks Pardon Me Ive Got Someone to Kill, Miranda Lamberts Gunpowder and Lead, Billy Austin by Steve Earle and on and on….
August 28, 2022 @ 11:59 am
Does anyone else see a problem with a dude kicking in a stranger’s door and killing the first guy he sees? That could have been the bad guy’s innocent friend, son, brother etc…. not cool.
January 16, 2023 @ 12:18 am
No because he was the only one home and she most likely told him that
August 29, 2022 @ 4:23 pm
Absolutely love this song
August 30, 2022 @ 10:09 pm
In the David Allan Coe song The Ride the ghost of Hank Williams asks the drifter two questions:
“Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing?
“Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside?
Those two questions are the perfect mainstream radio barometer.
HARDY should have spent a little time listening to songs like Becky’s Bible or maybe Tommy Jackson instead of ensuring the soccer moms would be satisfied. Song reminds me of the trailer for a Lifetime movie.
The only bright spot is Lainey Wilson. She’s a fantastic singer that mainstream country doesn’t deserve her. She makes HARDY look better than he really is. And she also did the same for ol Cole.
The most entertaining part of watching this song on YouTube are the comments.
“When she hits that chorus my soul chivers. Hit that like button if you have had this song on repeat for the past 2 days at work”
“Hardy is one of those artists that I think will transcend all genres and will have fans from all walks of life. Amazing song!”
“Hardy never ceases to amaze me. He is quite simply a musical genius”
Most of the comments are championing the song as some sort of domestic violence anthem.
It’s unfortunate that none of them probably have ever been introduced to Emily Scott Robinson’s “The Dress”.
August 31, 2022 @ 2:31 am
…when country music is bad, it’s usually really bad. this is even worse. “justice coming for a judge under the seat”? the new way of sentencing at a time when you can’t even count on the Supreme Court anymore to make sense? what’s next – a country song inspired by “the purge”? this is pretty much the biggest rubbish since chris janson’s over the top morale soaked and shamlessly pandering “drunk girl”. lainey wilson didn’t do herself a favour participating in this truck owner’s/hardy’s wet dream, who obviously thought that he’s the “taxi driver”. garbage like that can ruin careers, especially, still rather fledgling ones like miss wilson’s. what was she thinking?
September 13, 2022 @ 7:58 pm
I’m sorry, but I have I say this song is wrong on so many levels. Domestic Violence is horrible and extremely damaging. It does not justify cold blooded murder by vigilantes. I know that it’s “just a song” , but it’s getting a lot of praise and airtime because of the topic it covers. Having experienced domestic violence on both sides. I can tell you it is rare to be a one sided deal. No I’m not saying they deserve it or that our culture shouldn’t find solutions. We should talk about it more publicly with the purpose of trying to understand so we can find a better solution. I’m want to make a couple more points. 1. Their are no battered mens shelters that I have ever heard. 2. A little more than half of women report abuse due to fear of the abuse. But they believe 95% of batter men don’t report the crime out of fear of ridicule by other males. 3. People with ptsd with become violent when they perceive a threat. It doesn’t have to be real. If you want to get in to angry arguments with some that has proven to be violent at least once prior you are not a victim it should be viewed as “mutual combat” of domestic partners. The courts as of 2022 are realizing this is not a crime if one gender toward anther all both genders use violence toward each other. We need to stop promoting men are the only gender that abuse and that taking the law into in to our own hands is somehow heroic. (Besides a country boy doesn’t shoot people in cold, we knock ‘em out then we take them under our wing and teach them what it’s like to be a good man) I hope this song goes away soon so we don’t have to hear about another Bull rider get shot by his 21 year old girlfriend. (This week) Sadly unhealthy relationships are on the rise and we don’t need people going to defend the honor of a poor battered woman you just met and then go to prison for 15years. Hardy got the worst end of the deal from my experience. I know a majority that have experienced a loved on hurt by dv or was the one hurt will not agree but this is not a good look for country music and we should be concerned about this mentality becoming a trend. Country has always been about defending honor not
September 25, 2022 @ 1:02 pm
I heard this song for the first time a few days age, as I was driving hom from work. I burst into tears as I listened to the lyrics and understood the story it was telling.
I have never been the target of abuse as an adult. However, from the time I was four ears old until I ran away from home at the age of sixteen, I was the target of abuse by my step-father. He also abused my siblings, and caused our family to break up. All of us suffered from this, and have never gotten over it. Unlike many abused kids, myself and my three brothers and two sisters all became productive citizens, had long work lives, served our country in the military and except for one sister who is now a teacher in China, we are all retired.
Yet, if you asked any of us, we could describe the horror of our childhood in terms that this song touches on. Maybe the lyrics will bring recognition of abuse to others, and maybe give them the courage to escape. NOT by the method described in the song, but maybe because someone DOES recognize the abuse and steps in to help.
October 7, 2022 @ 9:10 pm
I not only understood Lainey’s story but Hardy’s need to do something about it! The problem with most of us in this world is the turning a blind eye to the trans-gressions of the bad elements and saying “what?” Really a great storyline. They did a whole movie in a 4 minute music video. I say GREAT JOB GUYS!!
February 28, 2023 @ 3:23 pm
This song is another type of misogynistic country music song. Women portrayed as damsels in distress that need to be saved by a hero in a pickup.
If the Lainey Wilson character had just been beat up by a man, there’s no way in hell she would get in a strange man’s truck. Let alone willing drive back to her abuser’s house.
Also, if she was in such bad shape, he should have taken her directly to the hospital.
This song is more about male hero fantasy than a statement against domestic violence.
January 16, 2023 @ 12:15 am
It just has me confused a little did the abusive boyfriend also rape the woman in the song?
January 23, 2023 @ 11:27 am
This song is dumb af. I refuse to listen to it. Obviously I know art doesn’t have to be realistic or logical, but this is so far off it hurts. Ain’t nobody fantasizing about going to prison for first degree murder to avenge the mistreatment of a total stranger. Not to mention the whole white knight swooping in to rescue the damsel in distress- fucking cringe.
February 23, 2023 @ 8:31 am
“Wait in the truck” is the kind of bullcrap story you hear in county lockup when some 90lb weakling is trying to impress the other inmates with his arrest story. The only thing missing from the song is audio of a deputy opening a cell door and calling out “Hardy! Someone posted your bail for public masturbation.”
March 10, 2023 @ 11:24 pm
Terrible song. Just shows how trashy the artist is that would sing a song ruining his own life because he obviously has none.
March 10, 2023 @ 11:26 pm
He wouldnt do that in real life. Straight trash
March 10, 2023 @ 11:34 pm
Thats what were coming to people singing fake songs. The only person that would go do something like that with a girl he knows nothing about is a trashy person that has nothing going on in his own life. To give everything up on that. Ghetto. Plus look at the guy singing the song. Ghetto. Not country. Cheap trash
March 11, 2023 @ 5:29 am
Johnny Cash had no problem pretending he was a bad ass hardened criminal.
March 10, 2023 @ 11:41 pm
We need to boycot this song and the trashy artist. It should not be on radio. Trash
March 12, 2023 @ 5:29 am
wow
April 17, 2023 @ 11:22 am
This is the absolute worst and most disgusting song I’ve heard in some time. So apparently killing someone who apparently slapped around his girlfriend is the appropriate thing to do. Young, impressionable, kids who listen to this garbage think hey, it’s the honorable thing to kill someone and spend life in prison to avenge a lesser crime of punching someone out. Plus the fact this guy just finds some random woman in a town he’s not from, and instinctively he goes to this guys house and kills him is ludicrous. How does he even know he did it? Because some rando on the side of the road said he did. She could have been on meth and face planted the pavement and doesn’t know where she is. that would be more believable than this song. It sends an extremely poor message, in a day and age where violence and irresponsible behavior plague this country. The fact many Country listeners would consider themselves more Conservative and God and Country loving, I find this sort of vigilante justice being celebrated as extremely hypocritical and anti-everything you believe in. Then the dumbest line alluding that prison isn’t that great but it’s better than where you sent him to, referencing hell. Yeah well buddy, you’ll be joining him there as an unrepentant murderer that that isn’t one bit sorry for what you did and views it as a badge of honor. Just complete swill.
April 17, 2023 @ 11:45 am
You are not wrong. It is a boyfriend country song. It taps into that fantasy that some lady is enough for a guy to completely wreck his life over. Of course, many a man has ruined his life trying to play white knight for some damsel.
Don’t do it.
May 2, 2023 @ 9:25 pm
I’ve read comments for an hour. None of you mentioned the law. Only a few alluded to how it would influence listeners. Many defended this song by referring to other songs that assume serious violence is actually an acceptable end. Some were more concerned about the careers of the performers. One did the right thing by saying this song should not be played on the radio or any other media platform. Many did the right thing in recognizing the song as ‘unrealistic’. Some of you took time to relate your past of abuse. None of you spoke of the law. Those of you who considered this song, as well as several others of a similar dark mentality, to be ‘trash’,, are responding with a good moral foundation. The rest of you are flirting with the ‘Grey areas’ where you think your comment will somehow replace the law. There is little wisdom in recognizing man’s government is a broken system. That much is obvious to us all. The question you should ask yourself is this. With all your mind, heart and strength, what do you support? Law? Or lawlessness? Try not to allow peripheral interests, such as justifying injustice, undermine your desire to support good. We are surrounded by enough bad to require an Ernest effort on our part to speak out against the bad we see. That should be enough. Anything inciting killing or murder is against the law. Your conscience will guide you according to your spirit. Some have a Godly spirit. Many follow the path of influence leading to destruction. Lawlessness leads to destruction and anguish and much pain. Law leads to protection and peace and comfort. Simple and true.
May 2, 2023 @ 10:34 pm
So. Nobody has mentioned the law. Some sharing of history of abuse. Some saying the plot was unrealistic. Some questioning the affect on the careers of the artists. Some think it sounds country, Some don’t seem to care. Some wonder if the shooter shot the right guy. Nobody, go back and look for yourselves, nobody mentions the law. It’s unlawful to kill or murder. It’s unlawful to ‘incite to’ kill or murder. This video is trying to blend It’s graphic depiction of an execution with a backdrop supporting a so-called country song. It’s criminal. It’s visually tutoring the desperate minds easily influenced. The problem here is the lack of a moral conscience. A spirit of destruction, anguish and pain gives way to self-sacrifice in futility. Someone who does not know the way out of a personal problem. Worse yet, it’s not his problem. One person said it should NOT BE PLAYED ON THE RADIO. The closest reality to the ‘law’ of all comments thus far. I’m sure that all of you are sincere in your opinions. However, this is not a topic for opinion. It’s more of a choice of what you support, naturally without taking into consideration the huge picture of all the killings going on around the world while these two (artists?) are fanning the flames in an undeniable public domain. I would like a call-to-action regarding objection to this song being permitted on any media accessible to the public. This is perhaps the single most irresponsible country music publication ever. One person recognized this, and said something like “that’s what makes it such a great song”. Well. I’ve known that I’ve been surrounded by idiots my whole life. Now you know it too. I just want you to know that I support all of you who genuinely, and intelligently object to this particular song and video. HARDY is ‘hardly’ a good example of artistic moral influence. Depicting a random execution is no small topic of debate. Simply said, it’s criminal and should be the first of its kind to be banned due to its graphic nature and unrestricted public exposure. Let’s not feel bad about being good. Call your news station, the publisher, or write a letter to the artists themselves asking them to withdraw this video and song from public distribution. There apparently is no organization willing to sensor material of this nature to protect the public domain from being exposed to this kind of graphic violence while being veiled under the guise of country music.