Thomas Rhett’s “Vacation” — aka Adolescent Girls in Bikinis Singing About Drinking Beer
**WARNING: LANGUAGE**
My God, why hast thou forsaken country music?
– – – – – – – –
I remember stories from my vacation Bible School days of the wrath of God taking the form of floods, pestilence, famine, and fire and brimstone. But I guess I missed the part about the unleashing of such audio frightfulness that mankind would pray for nothing less than the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to come galloping through a fiery crag in the sky to shepherd in the absolute and complete annihilation of all existence as opposed to being subjected one more second on this mortal coil in audience with such abominable and merciless audio torture.
That was my experience of listening to Thomas Rhett’s “Vacation.”
Seriously, fuck this song. And while we’re on the subject of supernatural beliefs of the Western World, I swear if any, ANY of you bastards tell me this Thomas Rhett audio abortion is “evolution,” then I, The Triggerman from savingcountrymusic.com, will personally come to every one of your houses in a single night like Santa Claus, and take a dump on your bedroom pillows. I’m serious. I don’t want to hear any noise about “Well Thomas Rhett has always had other influences besides country.” Take that weak shit back to the comments section on YouTube.
Thomas Rhett’s “Vacation” had fourteen songwriters. FOURTEEN OF THEM! Which about equals the I.Q. points required to enjoy this aggressively simplistic scacharrine-laced dumpster fire of a regurgitated mashup, or the I.Q. measurement one will attain if you listen to this “song” on repeat.
What is “Vacation?” It’s the taking of two separate compositions: War’s “Low Rider,” and Jason Derulo’s “Wiggle,” smashing them together like your 4-year-old would two pats of Play-Doh, having Thomas Rhett white-boy rap imbecilic lyrics over it through an Auto-Tuner for a few minutes, and then spitting out the result on some douchebag producer’s Mac. Viola, you have yourself a bona fide country mega hit in 2015! Then they all jump on a private jet to go shoot the video on Hawaii.
“Vacation” is cultural appropriation of the highest order, and in so many layers. Of course Rhett has to renege on certain essential consonants and vowels in his Ebonic-inspired mush-mouth hip-hop speak. “Let’s party like ‘WE’ on vacation” instead of “we’re” is the type of language this song employs, and it appears someone needs to school Mr. Rhett how the laws of physics preclude anyone from having their toes “up in” sand. Rhett sings about his alma mater, but it sounds like he could benefit from Jethro Bodine’s 6th grade education. Fourteen songwriters yet this song couldn’t construct a proper sentence to save its shallow, pandering ass.
Now look, when it comes to the video for “Vacation,” I don’t want to go back to Regan-era hyper-sensitive protocols on public decency standards, but I take some pretty serious exceptions with the use of what appear to be age 9 to maybe 14-year-old bikini-clad girls dancing around singing about drinking beer. It’s pretty much standard operating procedure in country videos these days to include bikini girls of some sort no matter the context or occasion, but what the hell? Who cast this video, Jared Fogle?
Yeah, I know the kids are supposed to be fun and cute, but when they’re dancing around in bikinis, cupping their hands and holding them up to their mouths like “cold ones,” it creeps a little to close to something that gives me the heebie-jeebies. I was trying to capture screenshot examples of these prepubescent girls enjoying “cold ones,” and in some of the shots, it appeared about the only thing separating me from getting placed on my local sex offender list was about a 1/2 inch of lycra. And of course these young girls are dancing all palms down like they’re trying to be hood rats, and one of the girls appears to even be throwing gang signs. Someone should call up those uptight pricks at the Parents Television Council and sick them on Thomas Rhett too. The more people dog piling his ass the better.
But what the hell is going on here? When you combine this video with Luke Bryan hanging out with brace-faced girls on the beach and releasing his videos exclusively to Tinder so 14-year-olds will go download the app, there seems to be a concerted effort to recruit very young girls into this seedy, oversexed, and booze-filled “evolved country” fold. Why? Because age 9 to 14-year-old girls and their ditsy moms are about the only ones with artistic palettes under-developed enough to be susceptible to liking this fluffy, nutrition-less crap. Rhett even self-labels the “Vacation” video “Instant Grat.” These young girls are the target demo for Thomas Rhett’s beer party song, so why not include them directly in your marketing? Joe Camel and Spuds MacKensie, eat your everloving hearts out.
Look, if Thomas Rhett wants to take two perfectly fine songs and fuck them up on the way to becoming the rich asshole he’s always wanted to be, then that’s his prerogative. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit on my hands and watch while he smears the name of my beloved genre of country music in the pursuit of maximum profit. I’d love to see Thomas Rhett try to take this garbage to the pop world where it belongs and watch his ass get handed to him just like Sam Hunt did, or be a fly on the wall next time Rhett has a “Beer With Jesus” after releasing this monstrosity and witness the son of God tongue lash his pathetic ass. No matter what genre you slot it under, “Vacation” is bullshit. And Thomas Rhett, and anyone else responsible for the writing, production, dissemination, distribution, or promotion of this noise pollution should be held in solemn judgement for their sins against country music and public decency in general.
…except for those cool old dudes in the band War named in the songwriting credits. Hopefully they at least get a good payday out of this mess.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:23 am
I love these rants!!! I actually put the highlights from these in text messages to some of my friends! But in all seriousness, I assure you nobody with any REAL understanding and appreciation for music as an art form actually respects this tripe. The problem is that all the TRUE music fans have pretty well abandoned the radio, and the result then is that we don’t exist. That’s right, when music execs look at the numbers, the only ones they see are relevant to radio, because we are actually “off the musical grid” with our cd players and our Jason Isbell. They literally believe everybody wants to hear this stuff because all the people who don’t aren’t measured in their surveys and polls because we as a music community are outside of the system. BUT as the independent community grows, and as backlash against stupid music intensifies, the big wigs have to turn around and realize that we were here the whole time. Thomas Rhett is no different than Justin Beiber, or the Kardashians; they all suck and have no real value. The difference for us country fans is that it’s too close to home. That’s why we’re upset. there has always been and always will be awful music, stupid music, and stupid, awful people making it. The reason we’re bothered by these dumb celebrities more than the ones on T.V. is because they’re here, in OUR country music.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:48 am
“Thomas Rhett is no different than Justin Beiber, or the Kardashians; they all suck and have no real value. The difference for us country fans is that it”™s too close to home.”
Exactly. You can ignore stupid until it starts misappropriating your own culture. If this crap existed separately from regular country music, rather than replacing it on radio, I’d just laugh at it and move on.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:13 am
Look, mister, there’s… two kinds of dumb, uh… guy that gets naked and runs out in the snow and barks at the moon, and, uh, guy who does the same thing in my living room. First one don’t matter, the second one you’re kinda forced to deal with.
– ‘Coach’ George
August 31, 2015 @ 7:09 pm
Im sorry, but I absolutely love Thomas Rhett. I’ve loved his music since I first started following him in 2011. I think you people are the biggest bunch of haters I have ever seen. This song is not a single. This video is actual footage from his actual vacation with family and friends. This son is a novelty song off the album. It’s not going to radio for airplay. My god!! Get over yourselves. Can you not listen to what you like without trashing everyone else and what they like in the process??
August 31, 2015 @ 8:06 pm
The fact the people in the video are “family and friends” doesn’t ameliorate things one bit. Rhett hit the trifecta here: A horrible “artist” with a horrible execution of a horrible song. (And people, stop making the little “heart” sign with your hands. We don’t care.)
That doesn’t make me a “hater.” It makes me somebody with decent taste in music.
September 4, 2016 @ 9:53 am
You probably have no taste. And for that matter your taste is like probably like burnt toast with 4year old butter. Go back to your 8 track and listen to your cry-baby country and when you fill your bucket full of tears, please put your head in it.
March 28, 2018 @ 3:34 pm
If I didn’t know you were a Thomas Rhett fan, your improper grammar would have made it pretty obvious
August 31, 2015 @ 8:30 pm
“Im sorry, but I absolutely love Thomas Rhett. I”™ve loved his music since I first started following him in 2011. I think you people are the biggest bunch of haters I have ever seen. This song is not a single. This video is actual footage from his actual vacation with family and friends. This son is a novelty song off the album. It”™s not going to radio for airplay. My god!! Get over yourselves. Can you not listen to what you like without trashing everyone else and what they like in the process?? ”
Jamie …you’re entitled to like what you want . Our biggest beef with THIS is that it isn’t country music in the least …and THAT’S what we’re about here. Someone calling their music COUNTRY just cuz they feel like it and knowing they will get airplay on county radio is destroying the essence of REAL country music . We aren’t haters so much as passionate fans doing our best to ensure the Rhetts of this world get airplay where they belong …ANYWHERE BUT COUNTRY RADIO . In the case of this particular video , Rhett comes off like a pervert .
August 31, 2015 @ 8:39 pm
I just don’t see how this is perverted. It looks like any other family vacation video. Granted any other family who can afford to sky dive in hawaii, but regardless. I see nothing perverse. I thought it was adorable. And this song is not going to country radio. It’s a novelty song. The rest of the album will be different. It will be a mix of everything. As far as country radio. It is what it is. I don’t think you or anyone else are going to change it. The country music spectrum is just that, a spectrum. That spectrum is broadening, like it or not. I don’t like everything on the radio, but I’m not hateful towards people who do. You guys are just mean.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:55 pm
Since it has been mentioned numerous times, saying that it won’t be released as a single is a pretty flimsy defense of the song, bordering on an admonition. I’ll also believe it when I see it. Nobody’s saying his album’s going to be bad, but “Crash & Burn” is pretty terrible. So far that’s two for two.
September 1, 2015 @ 3:11 am
I don’t have to defend the song. I like it. It’s what I like. It’s what I enjoy listening to and singing along to when I drive to work in the morning along with lots and lots of other music. I don’t have to defend that. That’s the beauty of living in America. Freedom of choice to listen to what I want and like what I want. I think they are great songs, and I love Thomas Rhett, and I love absolutely everything about him and what he does. I shouldn’t have to defend that. That’s what’s wrong here, is trying to make someone feel like shit for liking something you dont.
September 1, 2015 @ 8:29 am
Hey Jamie, the first rule of art appreciation is that if you like it, that’s all that matters. You shouldn’t let folks like me sway you from the joy of music, and I say that all the time. But I also have the right to NOT like music and voice my opinion as well. And that’s all I did, and then provided a forum for you to offer your dissent.
September 1, 2015 @ 5:56 am
That spectrum is broadening, like it or not.
No, it isn’t. And that’s my complaint. Country radio isn’t expanding to include pop music like this; the pop music has shoved country music off of country radio. I’ve called country music radio stations with requests but was put off with the excuse “that song is too country“. Does that seem right to you?
You wouldn’t like it if an artist you love–say, Thomas Rhett–were to be brusquely shoved off the stage. Well, I don’t like it either.
September 2, 2015 @ 6:05 pm
You listen to this on your drive to work in the morning? What are you 12?
My god
September 15, 2015 @ 6:57 am
Then Why Are You On This Website? I’m Not On Their Websites Harassing Them And Boo Whooin. Not Being Mean Just Speaking The Truth. And You Wanna Know What Is Mean? Country Radio Stations NOT PLAYING REAL COUNTRY AND NOT SHOWING ANY RESPECT PLAYING ANY OF THE OLD.!!!!!!!!!! If You Listen To A Rock Station They Will Play Old Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Segar, And So On. Not Country. That’s The Point Here. If I Have To Hear Swift Then I Wanna Hear Some Loretta Lynn In That Hour Also. Is That So Hard To Comprehend?
July 11, 2016 @ 11:12 am
Not released as a single huh? Then why is every country station in my area playing the hell out of it a year later?
July 31, 2016 @ 1:27 pm
It is on country radio. I heard it yesterday on the way to the grocery store. I listened to it almost all the way through so I could know that I hated it because of the entire song being horrible (I couldn’t listen to the whole thing as it got on my nerves too much). I hate to think of the video for it with too young girls dancing around in a grown mans attempt to be cute. Yuck.
June 26, 2016 @ 11:39 am
If it bothers you that much CHANGE THE STATION when it comes on. You don’t have to go and write a whole blog on how much you hate the song lol if anything you’re giving it more exposure. The video is literally Thomas’s vacation with family. He’s not a pervert? Chill. It’ll do you some good
March 28, 2018 @ 3:36 pm
NO
I won’t change my COUNTRY station because some shithead asshole wants to play Pop Music.
Don’t walk into my Taco Bell and tell me that I have to eat spinach now and if I don’t like it don’t eat at Taco Bell.
Thomas Rhett’s music is stupid and doesn’t belong on Country Radio.
September 1, 2015 @ 8:20 am
Good lord lady. You’re obsessed with someone who plays crappy, decidedly not country, music. And you’re not in his target age group either, at all. https://www.facebook.com/search/str/jamie%20quire/keywords_top
September 1, 2015 @ 11:03 am
How do you know my age? Stalk much? Creeper!!! And what’s a “target age group??” I go out with friends and have fun with my friends. I didn’t know there was an age limit to that.
July 3, 2016 @ 10:28 am
You’re not 12-15. You also seem to be president of his fan club.
July 3, 2016 @ 10:37 am
Get a life and stop stalking me. Creep!!! It’s been like 10 months and you are still looking up my profile. That’s just creepy. Go away! Who I am and or what I do is NONE of your business!
September 1, 2015 @ 8:56 am
Jamie, I CAN’T just listen to what I like and not trash everyone else. Here’s why: I sat down for a shrimp burrito one day, and out of the blue a bunch of clowns with wallet chains sat down and dropped spaghetti on my plate and told me that my shrimp burrito had evolved. Don’t get the metaphor? I wanted COUNTRY music, what I got wasn’t country music, and somebody tried to tell me that it was. You’re entitled to like this stuff, more power to you, you have my blessing, but when I find waffles in with my chicken wings, somebody’s going to get very sternly reprimanded.
September 1, 2015 @ 10:49 am
Can’t you just read what you like? Since we love country music we don’t like people screwing it up or replacing it with pop trash and bad music. If you think we’re haters read the reviews on his itunes album and some of his fans are giving it 1 star. Are they haters? When Tim released Lookin’ For That Girl he got the same reaction from many of his big fans.
This song isn’t remotely country so it’s not in the country music spectrum. Songs like this scream “fuck you country music, die and go to hell, long live pop!”
Vacation isn’t a good song in any genre and makes me want to take a vacation from music like I did before talented country artists brought me back to it. I certainly won’t be listening to radio playing this trash or anything like it.
Rhett is a country poser, pop and bro-country sellout and FGL wannabe.
Lyrics from Southside:
“Like Memphis, Tennessee/Got in bed with CDB (Charlie Daniels Band)/Had a baby/Oh, and when the baby cried/It made this sound/Ain’t no lie it was funkified”
He’s not even close to in bed with CDB and Charlie would shoot him before he got anywhere near his bed with this shitty pop music.
At least you admit to having bad taste in music.
September 1, 2015 @ 11:05 am
I believe my taste in music is just fine. Thanks! Maybe I think you have shitty taste in music. Taste is relative to the individual, and to me I’m happy with my choices! I don’t feel the need to bash others, because I’m happy. Only miserable people tear other people down.
September 2, 2015 @ 10:18 am
Taste is relative, genres are not. That’s what everyone’s trying to tell you. Also, talent aint relative either, and this song shows absolutely none. The fact it took 14 people to tell me about vacation is pretty damn sad. There was minimal effort put into the tune. This song was not written and played for you, it was designed and then marketed to you. Until you learn the difference, you’ll continue to buy into this garbage and the genre we all know and love and call country will collapse. It’s downright offensive that radio executives think they’re pulling one over on us selling us a genre that has literally none of the features of said genre, and the reason is because of people like you.
Also it’s perverted because we’re all wondering how many nasty asses are out there jerking off to these extremely young girls prancing around in bikinis singing about drinking. Not only that, but it’s breeding a vapid generation of future teeny boppers who continue to behave like teeny boppers long after they turn 20. It’s just sickening the culture surrounding the shit show that is pop country. It’s all fluff and no substance. It’s even sadder that you’re just gonna shrug this off as an issue of taste and fail to try to see the underlying problems here.
Like the song, we don’t care. But this is far beyond the “spectrum of country,” and at least be discerning enough to see that.
September 1, 2015 @ 10:54 am
1. If you have been following someone since 2011, its technically called stalking now.
2. Alice Liddell had a family friend like this as well when she was a child. After a couple trips to the lake, he wasn’t allowed to spend any more time with Alice.
September 1, 2015 @ 11:07 am
I’ve been a fan and following his career since 2011. That hardly qualifies for stalking.
September 1, 2015 @ 12:49 pm
To be fair, his songs that ARE on the radio are also terrible. Or at least, not remotely country. Stuff like Crash and Burn is only on country radio because it’ll play anything (except actual country music).
September 1, 2015 @ 2:39 pm
were the other 13 songwriters on vacation with him too??
June 16, 2016 @ 8:58 am
Ok, Jaime, you said this song is not going to radio for airplay. Guess again! I bet you can’t wait to crank your radio while driving down the highway, right?
Enjoy listening to this god awful song!
July 3, 2016 @ 10:39 am
This abortion of a song has been released as a single. I accidentally heard it on the radio the other day. I didn’t know what it was, but listened for the novelty of it. It was like a male version of Ke$ha, on “country” radio. I had a good laugh at least.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:25 pm
Exactly Fuzzy .
September 24, 2016 @ 10:32 pm
Unreal how someone that wants to use religion can also use the “DEVIL LANGUAGE” LMAO! It was a fun video, FUCKING DEAL WITH IT!
August 31, 2015 @ 10:31 am
His dad was a one hit wonder , and Thomas is worse than his dad.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:40 am
I would take his dad over him any day. At least his dad had some sort of substance in his songs. I enjoyed a few of Rhett Akins albums. This is just horrible though.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:57 am
and I would take Billy Ray over Miley… It’s just like picking a broken lamp over a raccoon carcass, they’re both useless but only one of them is useless AND gross.
August 31, 2015 @ 4:51 pm
I’m sorry, but I take offense to that. Broken lamps can at least be used as makeshift paperweights if you’re low on funds, and raccoon carcasses…well, not quite as useful, but still a better alternative to Miley Cyrus or Thomas Rhett.
August 31, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
Nope. No. Nope. That one hit was fucking creepy ass loser song….I am going to stalk the girl who clearly does not want me…..song. Fucking loser!
August 31, 2015 @ 8:29 pm
I like Rhett Akins too. I have 4 of his cd’s. I don’t really care for this song though.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:52 am
Rhett Akins had two big hits, That Ain’t My Truck and Don’t Get Me Started. Decent 90s fare imo.
September 1, 2015 @ 1:26 pm
Wait, Thomas Rhett is actually Rhett Atkins kid? I figured that was just a long running in joke.
September 1, 2015 @ 4:28 pm
Thomas Rhett Akins, Sr. and Thomas Rhett Akins, Jr.
September 2, 2015 @ 11:47 am
Yikes.
June 26, 2016 @ 11:43 am
Well guess what? That ONE hit wonder actually wrote songs for other country stars including Country entertainer of the year Jason Aldean. Oh, also did I mention Luke Brian, Blake Shelton, Billy Currington, Lee Brice and Chris Young. Maybe a one hit wonder with himself singing but he gave those other country stars some of their biggest hits and most well known songs.
March 28, 2018 @ 3:38 pm
there wasn’t a single Country singer in that list
August 31, 2015 @ 10:39 am
“I”™d love to see Thomas Rhett try to take this garbage to the pop world where it belongs and watch his ass get handed to him” – yes, exactly. Radio country has become the podunk minor leagues of pop. And the kidz bop thing in the video is just really, really creepy. I feel wrong for having watched some of it.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:41 am
Surely, they’ve gone too far this time. I literally can’t imagine a song worse than this one. Your move, Sam Hunt….
August 31, 2015 @ 10:58 am
Whoa there. Don’t underestimate Jerrod Neimann!
August 31, 2015 @ 11:03 am
He’s at least tolerable…
August 31, 2015 @ 11:06 am
Hahaha Jerrod Niemann is certainly not tolerable. He’s as bad as the worst of em
August 31, 2015 @ 11:11 am
I think the worst offenders are Chase Rice, Jason Aldean, and Thomas Rhett. Jerrod Niemann by comparison is considerably less obnoxious, AND less creepy.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:19 am
I think Aldean has had some heaters in his day. I love Amarillo Sky, Asphalt Cowboy, Why, Even If I Wanted To…etc. I wouldn’t call him the worst.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:21 am
I think his PERSONALITY is the worst, not his music.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:50 am
Jerrod’s first two albums were actually pretty good. It’s only his latest album that was terrible. And he covered “I Never Go Around Mirrors” when I saw him in concert. So he’s better than others.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
I think its wrong to base the assessment of an artist on their personality. i seem to be one of the lone Aldean supporters on this site. i think out of 6(?) releases, he has had maybe half a dozen serious clunkers (most of them on more recent releases) and that leaves a good 30-40 pretty great songs. Like Donny above, i am not going to ignore the quality songs just because the guy released some dreck (and yes, 1994 and Burning it Down are dreck). Sure, he seems like a bit of an idiot the more you know about him, but why should that make Amarillo Sky, On My Highway or Too Fast any less great, and they are great country songs in my humble opinion. i haven’t heard about him being rude to his fans, he just seems to be a d’bag in the opinion of the most readers of this site because (i) he had the nerve to add loud guitars and rap to his songs and (ii) he left his wife for another woman. On point two, not my business and i am not sure why its anyone else. Most of your country heroes seem to have pretty sketchy backgrounds (in fact, didn’t Cash leave his wife for June Carter?). On point one, frankly, as a rocker that came to country late, i like me some loud skynyrd style gee-tars and (in small doses) i can deal with his “attempts” at rap. over and over i hear about the “mind numbing metal solos” on his songs, but didn’t Cross Canadian Ragweed do the same thing and they seem, rightfully, to get a lot of love here. Maybe i am uninformed about what other atrocities he has committed that make Aldean such an awful human being, but you know what? i don’t care. Axl Rose was, is and probably always will be an unrepentant asshole, but that fails to interfere with the 20+ years of pleasure i have derived every time i put on Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I & II. i am not putting Aldean in the same league as G’n’R, but i really just don’t get the hate for the man on this site. …but yes, i agree this song by T’Rhett sucks the big one.
August 31, 2015 @ 1:04 pm
Jason Aldean has a few good song. I like some of his music. Marky Mark you are not alone. I think he is better than, Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, and all the other mother fuckers I don’t want to name.
August 31, 2015 @ 1:19 pm
marky mark here’s why I no longer like Aldean. He went from good country rock songs to pure pop. What guitars? He replaced them with synthesizers. He’s a total pop sellout now and what’s the point? I don’t see that his sales are any higher after going pop.
August 31, 2015 @ 2:18 pm
Aldean didn’t go to pure pop at all. His latest release is far better than any of the other big names. Agreed Burnin’ It Down is a bad song but his new album is decent. Listen to Two Night Town…great little steel guitar part near the end.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:39 pm
The latter half of “Old Boots, New Dirt” is quite listenable (outside of “Gonna Know We Were Here”).
Every single released this era has been below average to insufferable. That said, don’t let that fool you about thé album as a whole. It’s basically even more Jekyll & Hyde than the Zac Brown Band’s album in that the entire first half (minus “Tryin’ To Love Me” resembles the démonic industry pimp Hyde side, while the entire latter half (minus “Gonna Know We Were Here”) resembles the authentic heartfelt chicken-fried Adult Contemporary meets heartland rock Jekyll side.
September 1, 2015 @ 8:55 am
Nice to see a little support for ol’ Mr. Aldean. I agree, his releases have been inconsistent for sure. I find that i have to weed through them to get to the good country, or country rock songs. Do i wish he would back off the pop drivel and focus on what made him good in the first place? yes. But in this age of mp3s, it is easy enough to make a play list that features the good songs and ignores the bad ones. I though Old Boots played exactly as Nadia described it, trash on the first half, except for Tryin to Love Me, and then quite awesome country and rock songs on the second half (I even like Gonna Know We Were Here). I thought Two Night Town and Too Fast in particular were absolute highlights and i really can’t see how fans of Country/Country-rock would not like those songs. Sure, out of 15 songs (counting the bonus tracks [because it improves the math for my argument]), 4 or 5 early on are pretty unlistenable, but that leaves 3/4 of the album that ranges from good to great in my opinion. Better if it was 100% great, but i like his voice, like his choice in songs (the good ones) and like the music he chooses to accompany the songs, so i will take what I get from him. Maybe he will wake up next year and have an epiphany, and start making solid country/country rock albums through and through again, rather than chasing trends (though i might argue he sets the trends, even if they are bad trends)
August 31, 2015 @ 6:27 pm
Jerrod Neimann is one of the worst of them? LMFAO. Uhh no. Not even CLOSE my friend. And to whoever said Jason Aldean is pure pop, that’s hilarious. Aldean may be a dickhead but he has kept the steel guitar in his songs and still uses country influences. His music is more country sounding than most of the garbage on country radio.
September 1, 2015 @ 9:01 am
Not to keep beating a dead horse, since i agree with you about his music, but why does everyone think he is a dickhead? as i have said elsewhere, maybe i just don’t want to know. David Lee Roth appears to be a dickhead, but Van Halen still rocks my world 40 years later. i say separate the music from the personality. the internet does us no favors in that respect. too much info available all the time too easily. Remember when led zeppelin was an album cover with no name of the band on it, no pictures of the band, and you had to buy some magazine to maybe see what they looked like in a picture. As Joe Perry said, let the music do the talking. Aldean may really be a dickhead, i don’t care to know, but i enjoy the songs Asphalt Cowboy and On My Highway immensely every single time they come on my stereo.
September 1, 2015 @ 9:18 am
I guess I don’t like the idea of spending my money to line the pockets of someone with little to no morals. Johnny Cash may have been a cheater, I don’t know, I know he had problems with drugs. He had PROBLEMS. Luke Bryan, on the other hand, drinks to excess probably because he thinks it’s cool. Jason Aldean is a confirmed cheater, and then he DARES tell us to get over it? Amarillo Sky is a great song, I won’t argue that. BUT it’s not a good enough song that I want to give somebody so obnoxious a single cent. Miles Davis was that way too, the difference was that he was just a jerk, and Jason Aldean, by comparison, is a character of low moral integrity. Maybe he’s a great guy, I’ve never met him, but the way he is on T.V. and interviews and stuff, I don’t like him.
September 1, 2015 @ 11:49 am
https://savingcountrymusic.com/jason-aldeans-burnin-it-down-a-roast
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-jason-aldeans-old-boots-new-dirt
His latest album has pure pop songs, it’s a step down in quality from his previous albums, and like more and more bros he’s leaning too heavily on the typical sex sells pop theme and too many songs about the same thing. Some of his latest singles ARE as bad and pop as most of the garbage on country radio. When the biggest acts do it others follow like lemmings. Like Maddie and Tae said, “I hate the fake drums. Those need to go away!”
August 31, 2015 @ 10:43 am
I made it about 8 seconds in before giving up. That’s a new record for me.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:46 am
Thomas Rhett is such a fucking hack. If it weren’t for his dad he’d be sweeping the floors at Walmart.
And that in itself is a meta-commentary of sorts on how bad things have gotten in mainstream country, because Rhett Akins’ record even before the Peach Pickers was nothing to write home about.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:49 am
Wow. I’m usually more tolerant of pop country than you are, Trigger, but with this one…I can’t think of any single redeeming quality.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:50 am
It kind of blows my mind that something like this will get airplay, when something like “Outsiders” (and I admit, that as well is all rock and no country) got little to none. (at least, in my area!). And that’s from a mainstream artist! If something like that can’t pass for country radio, how will THIS?? (And yet, somehow this will. So gross!)
August 31, 2015 @ 10:53 am
I haven’t yet listened to this (and doubt I will) and I know I’ve said it before, but I’m really disappointed in Thomas Rhett. When he first showed up on the scene, I had high hopes for him and I don’t care what anyone has to say about it. He had some catchy songs and one really good song (“Georgia”, which I believe was supposed to be on his debut album) and yet he allowed himself to be sucked in to the Music Row machine and release stomach-churning dreck in the “bro-country” / EDM field. It’s unfortunate, more than anything.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
I am with you. i have Rhett’s original acoustic EP and thought it was quite good. He quickly went downhill though, even ruining the good songs from that EP when he rerecorded them on his debut. i have said it before, some of these guys have got talent, but they just seem to use it for evil, not good. He may make a million dollars on this crap he seems to be peddling now, but it is short term thinking because the pop supporters are fickle friends. Stick with the substance and you find the rock and real country supporters stand by you. In a similar vein, what the hell is Jake Owen doing to his career? he has a great voice and some great early songs, but boy has he headed downhill in a hurry (although I did like Days of gold off the last album)..
August 31, 2015 @ 12:39 pm
I’m right there with you. I bought the Acoustic EP and still listen to it to this day. I never bought the album and only heard 2 or 3 songs off of it and it just wasn’t good. He could have tried to do it his own way but it appears that cashing in was more important to him. And I partially agree regarding Jake Owen. I think he has a good voice and I have respect for him for the fact that he does more for his fans in a week than most artists do in a year but he’s gotten steadily worse and worse as his career has progressed.
August 31, 2015 @ 2:20 pm
Yeah, Jake Owen definitely had some good songs early in his career. I love ghosts, the bottle and me, places to run, who said whiskey…
September 1, 2015 @ 12:46 pm
Thomas has been a huge letdown…i saw him in a small bar venue back in 2012 before he really had any radio play. Georgia was a great song, and i can’t believe he never recorded it. Fast forward and i can totally see why it was never recorded….he sold out to the record companies for the almighty dollar. I can’t hate a man for trying to make a living, but the stuff he releases now is just trash. I hoped for him to lead the change, but he has done the total opposite. Very sad.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:57 am
Yawn. So ‘country’ has reached a new low. So what? The whole bankrupt scene is just a bunch of whores with no integrity whatsoever, though I sort of do look forward to hearing the local DJ prostitute himself after he sprays this piss all over the airwaves.
Honestly, I don’t hold Rhett (the Rick Astley of what used to be country music) responsible for this drivel. He is just a talentless hack. It is his handlers and the radio cartels that are the real problem here. The kids were pretty bad too. The video is sort of like the the pedophile’s version of Rascal Flatts’ “Summer Nights” video (which is already deeply embarrassing).
I would like to point out that cultural appropriation is a bit of a black mark. I think it is just a term now being employed by the new segregationists. Cultures borrow from cultures. It is the way it is. No group has a special claim on being able to avoid cross-pollination. However, after this crap being dumped on country music, I might be able to be convinced otherwise…
August 31, 2015 @ 11:01 am
My attitude towards complaining about bad music on the radio: It’s no different that going to a McDonald’s playplace and complaining about all the gross kids who haven’t grown up. If a body doesn’t like people who bowl, don’t go to a bowling alley. I don’t like stupid music, stupid celebrities, or people who tell me that stupid music is evolution, so I don’t watch those things on television, I don’t listen to the radio, and I don’t surround myself with Jason Aldean fans. BUT the problem is that the kids from the playplace are EVERYWHERE. They’re in the lobster tank at Red Lobster, they’re at the salad bar at China Wok… The problem is that they are where they don’t belong, and people like me can’t avoid them anymore.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:00 pm
Let me make clear, when I say “cultural misappropriation” of country music I’m not referring to race, geographical region, or even other musical genres. The “culture” I mean is the young, dumb, trend-chasing one; the Kardashian-Trump-reality-tv melting pot of American Stupid.
One thing country music has been mostly good about through the years is not selling out to the lowest common denominator. Sure there’s been some bad/dumb/silly country songs, and some definite shifts in sound and style, but the general vibe has been one of maturity. Relating to the everyman and woman. There were no boy bands in country music, country bands were 35 yo average dudes with mullets who wrote songs and played instruments. LeAnn Rimes at 14 made more grown-up music than almost 40 yo Luke Bryan does now.
And in a span of about 5 years, that’s all totally changed. Yikes.
August 31, 2015 @ 10:58 am
This bro country music is a cultural disaster! It’s just dumb!
August 31, 2015 @ 10:59 am
Every time I think that this genre can’t sink any lower, cannot produce any more mindless drivel, some other old perv comes along and starts singing about/with teenage girls. They’re creeps and it’s disturbing just how undisturbed the general public seems to be. Is it really cool to be 40 and singing about spring break?
These d-bags can’t write a real song. They haven’t paid any dues, they have zero life experience. They can’t write about love, life, work, or the family experience (both the ups and the downs)’because they’ve been too busy bent over the desks of label execs and in makeup/wardrobe during their nonexistent “careers”. So we get left with shallow, insincere, inexperienced nameless faces to “sing” this crap that gets put out and I’m tired of it.
This world is JACKED UP, and because there are so many blind, mentally handicapped/stunted sheeple in this country, the trend continues to plug on. I jus don’t get it. I wish big country names would use their leverage and BAND TOGETHER to make a stink about all of this instead of individually throwing out a sentence or two in interviews.
I’m disappointed that the “keepers” of country music, the legends, don’t join together and make noise. Shame these new, nameless, vanilla, characterless, sisters’ jeans-wearing pansies in public and take a stand. Maybe they could even put their own “legends label” together and keep making their own music.
Somebody PLEASE do something! I need a Tylenol now.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:40 pm
Not defending this song by any stretch of the imagination, but Mr. Rhett is 25, not 40.
August 31, 2015 @ 2:01 pm
I know, I was talking about most of the rest of the other artists.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:04 am
I am not a fan of Thomas Rhett. He does have a couple good tunes though like Something to Do With My Hands and Beer With Jesus. I saw him at Boots & Hearts and he was having quite a time. He definitely knew how to work the crowd.
This song is brutal though, not country whatsoever and even bad for a pop song. He seems like a good guy though and he’s just having fun out there. Still doesn’t allow him to release such garbage.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:04 am
LOL I guess pop radio actually has some standards, unlike country radio. And they play “Watch me Nae Nae.” So yeah. “Low Rider” could have been used so much better, maybe not in a country song but it could have been something cool. What a waste of a good song.
The video is REALLY ill-advised. The Jared Fogle reference is not out of place here, and that’s disturbing. A 9 yo girl a bikini lip-synching “cold one in my hand?” Really? Thomas Rhett is like a male Miley Cyrus, a talentless hack brought to us courtesy of nepotism.
I never say stuff like “this is it, the worst country song ever!” cause then something like this always comes along… and there will probably be something worse. Sigh.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:09 am
At least Hannah Montana was a halfway tolerable show, for what it was… Can you imagine a Thomas Rhett sitcom?
Tommy R: Oh no, the beer’s all gone.
Bubba: I gots a truck, lets get going
Goofus: Whoa boys, what’s that road sign there say?
Tommy R: It says… um…
Goofus: Let’s get a phonics book!
Bubba: Hey kids!!! A is for armchair. B is for beer. C is for cute girls, D is for drunk.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:26 am
The only good thing about this is that my blindness prevents me from having to watch the video. This is one of the worst excuses for music I have ever heard.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:28 am
I thought “pop country music” couldn’t sink any lower….I Was Wrong!
Very creepy when we see the lure of Very Young girls portrayed in
songs this way, it has been around for awhile but now with social media
it gives the “Creepy factor” a whole new level. Thomas Rett is just another
Nashville “country singer wannabe” who idolize Luke Bryan and looks to
rack up on crap music. I don’t care how many #1 singles are albums these
“Pop Country music singers” may have. Truth is it has nothing to do with TALENT and everything to do with Digital music purchase and streaming.
August 31, 2015 @ 11:30 am
This entire video could have been avoided with a simple parachute malfunction…
August 31, 2015 @ 11:42 am
Idiocracy.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:02 pm
So this will be his next single to fill the shortage of dumb bro-country party songs on the radio. Party like we on vacation. Genius level lyrics. The itunes reviews on this thing are a good read and it has more 1 than 5 star. Can’t write, can’t sing, can’t rap, one of the biggest bro-country acts. Oh but it’s fun kids.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
“… he could benefit from Jethro Bodine’s 6th grade education.”
best thing I’ve ever read on this site
August 31, 2015 @ 12:43 pm
😀 That’s pretty funny, but I liked this even better:
“…I swear if any, ANY of you bastards tell me this Thomas Rhett audio abortion is ‘evolution,’ then I, The Triggerman from savingcountrymusic.com, will personally come to every one of your houses in a single night like Santa Claus, and take a dump on your bedroom pillows.”
Seriously though, I couldn’t bring myself to listen to Rhett’s track, but I like to think a countrified cover of the Go-Go’s “Vacation” would’ve been preferable than the mess described in this review. :p
August 31, 2015 @ 1:03 pm
These rants almost make this kind of music bearable. Almost.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
That picture at the top does this girl not know that that hand gesture supposedly Irish in origin (thanks Dio) isn’t in anyway related to country music? The only hand gesture related to country music is Johnny Cash’s middle finger which I’m sure is way the fuck up right now.
August 31, 2015 @ 6:47 pm
I would be surprised if the girl or Thomas Rhett even knows who Ronnie James Dio is without having to Google him.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:35 pm
Thomas Rhett is a product. Not a singer. Not a songwriter. Not an entertainer. A product. A product has to be sold to whomever the market will bear. There are a great many people getting rich off of this product, including his father. The sad part is that what has destroyed the pop world is now destroying country. Blame it on the wealthy men and women who think that the lower you go the more people will buy. And I hate to say this: people will buy this record. It is background noise, silly, and upbeat. Country music for a generation raised in the cul-de-sac not the hills or hollers or farms of the prior generation. This generation thinks that country can be insulting, stupid, drunk and drugged, party-filled, and disposable. And if they can degrade women at the same time well then the Jack is working. Real life, hard times, that’s for suckers. And who can blame them. The boomers raised their kids to not have to suffer. This is a product of that desire. Reality shaped by beer, drugs, beach, trucks, and sex. And put some children in it. No product is worthwhile unless you can get the kiddies to crave it.
August 31, 2015 @ 3:58 pm
You took the words right out of my mouth. If there were not a large group of people who were willing to lap this shit up with a spoon, then it would not exist. Yet the sheeple eat it up, and the end result is more shit!!
August 31, 2015 @ 12:42 pm
Sometimes I wake up and think “Why do I let the wretched state of country music aggravate me so?” I then resolve to focus on my own endeavors and not trouble myself over these things. Then I see something like this…
As I’ve stated before, people are brainwashed into believing this is country. There are subliminal messages hidden in these songs which must be actively fought off by the listener. This is utterly unenjoyable to the likes of us, but not to some people. You see, the masses have been handed stupid shit as music for years. It started out somewhat tolerable, but gradually got worse and worse. Well, as people listen to these songs, their tolerance of stupidity becomes stronger and stronger, while their definitions of what is “country” become weaker and weaker. To put it simply, people’s musical intelligence decreases as country music further devolves into the monogenre. These “country” artists and their puppet masters, can now make the music they want because the gullible masses have been brainwashed into being fans. Every unenlightened individual truly believes this is great “country” music, and all the artists and their superiors truly belief this is “evolution” and that this will result in music everyone wants to hear. That’s why Sam Hunt enunciates like this:
Sam Hunt: We’ll have a house pahwty, we don’t need nobahwdy.
They hope this will reel in the hip hop crowd. “Black people can be country too right? Mane, we need to switch to country!” First of all, of course black people can be country. But how can anyone reasonably think that hip hop fans would go to country over these type of songs? Would your average Drake fan really go listen to Hank after becoming a Sam Hunt fan? No, but they don’t understand this. Pop fans are even less like to convert, as Trigger so eloquently explained. But Music Row’s idea of “evolution” is making country closer to every other genre than itself while also dumbing it down so it appeals to the least common denominator. Behold, country’s “evolution:”
FGL: Yo dis iz how we roll, we rollin’ inta town
Wit nothin’ else to do we take anotha lap aroun’
Yeah, holla at ya boy if ya need a ride
If you roll wit me, yeah you know we rollin’ high
Up on them 37 Nitos wit dem (IDK)
How fresh my baby iz in da shot gun seato
Dem kisses are fa me doe
Ahta matic like a free tho
Dis life I live it might not be for you its for me doe, let’s roll
Yes, I have posted this before. I just wanted to illustrate how ridiculous this “evolution” truly is based on the dialect and enunciation within these songs. I could talk about this forever, but I have a world to take over. Doom bids his fellow pop country haters farewell.
August 31, 2015 @ 4:13 pm
You know quite honestly I’ve always wondered why they (FGL) think free throws are automatic….you can miss a free throw….just ask Shaq. hahaha
August 31, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
What you’re missing is “windows tinted, hard to see though” (I’ll leave the annunciation to you)
September 1, 2015 @ 6:28 pm
Straight Outta Nashville
August 31, 2015 @ 12:47 pm
I’ve just done the most amazing shit. I’m dedicating it to this garbage. Cheers.
August 31, 2015 @ 12:48 pm
The Rhett family continues to suck the life out of Country music. The old man went from forgotten 90’s hat act to one of the worst mainstream songwriters in recent memory and his son is nothing but a rich boy riding daddy’s connections to music row to moderate stardom.
Screw Thomas, his dad and all their buddies (Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip, etc) for the bastardization of a one proud genre. Simply put, Thomas…..you and your dad really, really suck at music. How about both you go on vacation from Country radio and never come back.
August 31, 2015 @ 1:08 pm
I may be the only one who hates when people say that his dad had good hit song in the 90s. The guy in the song is a creepy loser who would have his ass handed to him by the other guy.
August 31, 2015 @ 1:01 pm
I made it 34 seconds in before I stopped it.
And the song doesn’t even start right away in the video!
August 31, 2015 @ 1:48 pm
Yes. Spot on. Hammer, nail and so on. This song is just so fucking useless. Even for a braindead pop song this is scraping the bottom of a pussfilled barrel. This is popping the cork on bottle of hate.
August 31, 2015 @ 2:05 pm
This shit makes Florida Georgia line sound like George Jones.
August 31, 2015 @ 2:48 pm
I only lasted a few seconds once the lyrics started, what the heck did I just listen to!!? Now to listen to some Jason Boland to cleanse my ears!
August 31, 2015 @ 2:52 pm
One of Thomas Rhett’s favorite country artists growing up was the Baha Men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkuu0Lwb5EM
September 1, 2015 @ 12:24 pm
WHO LET THE BROS OUT?!
August 31, 2015 @ 3:12 pm
Oh sweet mother of mercy, 30 seconds of that nonsense was more than enough. That is even worse than Sam Hunt’s House Party nonsense which is something I never thought I’d have to say.
August 31, 2015 @ 3:27 pm
What a disaster! today’s country music is generation X.
August 31, 2015 @ 4:03 pm
Perhaps I’m a bit sheltered, but I can’t even understand how this piece of shit song is even labelled as Country.
August 31, 2015 @ 4:08 pm
SEVEN!!! SEVEN SONGWRITERS!!! (I only say 7 instead of 14 because all the members of War are credited because of the Low Rider sample) AND THIS WAS THE BEST THEY COULD FREAKING COME UP WITH!!!????!!!!
August 31, 2015 @ 4:10 pm
I think this is just country evolving…hold on guys there is a knock at my door…
August 31, 2015 @ 4:21 pm
Knock! Knock!
Who’s there?
IT’S TRIGGER BITCH!!
August 31, 2015 @ 4:50 pm
hahaha! This has got to be the best comments section in country music. How many “real” sites even allow comments?
August 31, 2015 @ 7:33 pm
Any tips on stain removal?
November 16, 2016 @ 12:24 pm
Don’t make stains
September 1, 2015 @ 12:25 pm
*releases some diarrhea on your pillows*
September 1, 2015 @ 3:09 pm
A parody NEEDS to happen who could do it… Wait Weird Al maybe,
September 1, 2015 @ 4:22 pm
OMG!!!, I’m in tears from laughing so hard!!!
August 31, 2015 @ 4:26 pm
Out of the 4 guys in my close group of friends, 1 guy loves this Bro-Country/EDM crap that is on the radio. But this is when I know even the hardcore Bro-Country/EDM fans are getting sick of this music. I told him to YouTube it and tell me what he thought….He HATED it! Said it was straight pop.
August 31, 2015 @ 5:04 pm
I got 32 seconds in and that was 35 seconds too much~ I usually like to at least hear what Trig is going on about, not that I don’t trust him, but just to laugh out loud~ but I just couldn’t do it~ no laugh is worth that much pain ~
August 31, 2015 @ 5:09 pm
Alright this song absolutely sucks. And it sends the wrong message with the kids in it. But you know what? it looks like they literally went on vacation with some nieces and nephews and him and his wife played in the sand and the kids sang it. May have been a little harsh in that area.
But the critique on lyrics, creativity, etc…. Spot on. Hate this song
August 31, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
My only trepidation at posting this article was that at some point the parents of these kids would stumble upon this dark corner of the internet and feel bad that I painted their kids appearance in such a negative light. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it if it wasn’t for the kids singing about “cold ones.” Trust me, I am far from an uptight fuddy duddy, and you have to go no further than this rant to see that. And this isn’t a political correctness issue either. With all the stories of campus rape, child porn, and other such things making headlines these days, I thought the decision to portray kinds in this manner was in poor taste. Maybe my response was in equally poor taste, but that was kind of the point. Fight fire with fire. I feel bad for the kids because the parents should have made better decisions around them, and my guess is they’re probably good kids and their appearance in this video won’t affect their lives adversely. But if it glorifies things to other adolescents that it may, and I felt inclined to say something.
September 1, 2015 @ 10:03 am
Yeah I definitely agree with that
September 1, 2015 @ 1:12 pm
Completely agree. It’s irresponsible bordering on exploitative, especially the “cold one” part. He couldn’t have someone older than 9 sing along to that part?? It’s partly bad timing with child porn being in the news right now, but those sickos are always out there.
Also, no one wants to see your damn vacation videos. ;p
August 31, 2015 @ 5:35 pm
I don’t know where else to put this but go listen to Tyler Childers’ song White House Road off the EP “live on red barn”. It’ll make you feel better I promise.
Trigger, you need to check this kid out, stat.
August 31, 2015 @ 7:29 pm
Thanks for the suggestion Adam. Definitely aware of Tyler, just haven’t had a chance to highlight him on the site yet.
September 2, 2015 @ 10:22 am
Thanks for that comment- had heard the name, but never got around to checking him out. Glad I finally did.
August 31, 2015 @ 6:12 pm
“Beer With Jesus” was a great song.
Everything else this guy has ever done is a fucking embarassment. I get douche chills when I see his “lyrics”. Disgrace, pathetic, terrible, dreadful. Pick your adjective. They all work, and they work even better with others.
August 31, 2015 @ 6:33 pm
There oughta be some kinda law that this don’t be allowed to be called country music. Seriously.
August 31, 2015 @ 6:37 pm
this iz just countree trying 2 evolv if u dont like it dont listen 2 iht
August 31, 2015 @ 6:42 pm
YOU’RE not a real country music fan. Get your dang chanting and electronic drum beats out of my music!
August 31, 2015 @ 6:40 pm
Tyler Childers has a cult following where I am from.
August 31, 2015 @ 6:40 pm
As descriptive and glorious as your rant was, it couldn’t fully prepare me for how horrible this song really was until I heard it myself.
August 31, 2015 @ 7:23 pm
That opening paragraph is one of the best things I’ve read on this website.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:06 pm
I read , I watched 30 seconds . Hard to believe a culture has NO control over a pervert like this using children to sell his obviously desperate and fucked up song and video .Then again , I stumbled upon some MTV video award highlights . This is one very very messed up generation the music industry is targeting for exploitation . Those pop artists are all no talent whores selling sex non-stop and the labels and management are making $$$$ off their backs like common pimps. Progressively , this is just driving REAL artists away from the music business in droves. If THAT is the level a real artist has to stoop to in order to generate $$$ , she’d be far further ahead to engage her passions in something far more meaningful. Like working the Mac D’s drive through window where at least you can sleep nights knowing you did a REAL day’s work and didn’t have to pimp yourself out on MTV .
Top to bottom , the pop-rap-country music business is a mess . There is no heart , no courage , no self-esteem in play and , obviously , no direction . Rhett should be in prison for what he’s doing .
September 1, 2015 @ 7:40 pm
I AGREE WITH YOU 100%.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:22 pm
I made it 1:10 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What a crappy song. 14 people wrote this garbage of this so-called country song. country music is on the death bed and needs to wake up. 2015 is the year for that of many worst country songs.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:25 pm
Sam Hunt never tried his music in the pop world. How Thomas can go from Beer With Jesus to this is beyond me. Sam actually just hit number 1 for the 3rd time with House Party and is about to release his 4th single Breakup In A Small town on September 19th. I’m a fan of his but this site cracks me up and it humors me. I can’t wait to see the reviews here for Sam’s next single.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:47 pm
Yes he did.
He and his label pushed “Take Your Time” to Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40 radio early this year.
It fared poorly at the former: peaking at about #30 and having à short chart run. It peaked at #12 on the latter, but has plunged like a boulder since peaking.
August 31, 2015 @ 8:34 pm
I haven’t have anything against Thomas Rhett but this song is horrible and his last 2 song is not that great. I like “It goes like this” and “Get me some of that”.
August 31, 2015 @ 9:50 pm
A lot of thought went into those 2 songs.
You can tell by the titles.
August 31, 2015 @ 9:24 pm
Trigger,
I’m a first time commenter, but I’ve been reading the site for a while. I’m a big fan of the site.
This has got to be one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. I think Zac Brown would even put this below “That’s My Kinda Night.” C’mon, this was terrible. Disappointing too, because I think Thomas Rhett actually has a good enough voice to make some decent county music.
Thanks,
James
August 31, 2015 @ 9:33 pm
Thanks for reading James.
August 31, 2015 @ 9:29 pm
This is some funny shit. Fuck that song dude i would ask when a line would be drawn but apparently that’s not a thing anymore.
August 31, 2015 @ 9:54 pm
I wish George Carlin were still alive to give his opinions on this “music”
August 31, 2015 @ 11:56 pm
I’m not even going to spend as much time dissecting this particular song, like I’m often known to do for abysmal-to-terrible mainstream country/”country” releases.
*
There’s one point I do want to add, however, that I was surprised wasn’t touched upon in the review or even in earlier comments.
The aggressive volume of product placement in the track’s lyrics is HIDEOUS. Let’s take a count:
*
1) “My girl is rocking that Billabong bikini” (First Verse)
2) “…asking me if I can rub that Coppertone on her…” (First Verse)
3) “Might be Motel Sixing…” (First Verse)
4) “I got my Solo Cup amplifier…” (Second Verse)
5) “….and my Walgreens beach chair…” (Second Verse)
6) “I”™m sipping on some Red Stripe…” (Second Verse)
7) “…crushing on that Busch light…” (Second Verse)
*
There is also a frequent mention of coconut water in both the pre-chorus and bridge of this track; which basically is a brand-name away from a eighth shameless plug in one song. Add the Turks & Caicos islands and it basically amounts to a ninth one in the form of this song serving as nothing more but an infomercial clinically designed to boost tourism to the coral islands in the heart of the Bahamas.
The amount of corporate shrilling here is mind-blowingly nauseating. And that’s saying a lot considering Florida Georgia Line plugged at least seven different liquor brands among their current album’s twelve tracks, and Justin Moore shrilled for both McDonald’s and Wal-Mart in his most recent single “This Kind of Town”.
*
Beyond that, my sentiments on this track pretty much echo most others here; from the creepy pre-adolescent marketing angle with the track’s accompanying music video (Jared Fogle probably DID establish the casting call), to the asinine spoken-word delivery, to the utterly pointless attempt at sampling War’s classic earworm of a song.
“Vacation” gets a Light Zero from me, regardless of genre it’s marketed to.
September 1, 2015 @ 5:10 am
As a Thomas Rhett fan. This song is garbage.
September 1, 2015 @ 6:45 am
Ugh, so this is one of the douche-bros in the new Zaxby’s commercials. (chicken chain in the SE) I don’t know who the other guy is.
Those guys suck, and I won’t buy any chicken while they’re still running their garbage ads.
September 1, 2015 @ 8:52 am
I felt the same way when Blake Shelton was talking Pizza Hut, and when FGL was selling Hershey’s. There are two brands I won’t be purchasing from for a loooong time.
Hear Brandi Carlile's 2015 Newport Folk Set; Thomas Rhett's 'Vacation' Is Awful; Chris Isaak with Dave Cobb | Country California
September 1, 2015 @ 10:16 am
[…] Rhett”™s “Vacation” got the takedown it deserves from Saving Country […]
September 1, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
I like in that photo he’s flashing the horns to show how metal he is.
He’s as metal as Winger.
September 1, 2015 @ 12:29 pm
At least Winger made Pull.
September 6, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
And Pull is a damn good album, one more blind revolution mad!
September 1, 2015 @ 2:19 pm
One thing that I wonder. Why does mainstream country music have such an infatuation with Jason Derulo?? Three of the “songwriters” on this tripe were writers for Derulo. Not to mention the surfaced video of Luke Bryan and Jason Derulo doing an inpromptu duet online. I just do not get it. Do Jason Derulo’s music and aura have some kind of mythical healing powers when you come in to contact with it? Someone please help me understand.
September 2, 2015 @ 12:41 am
Even though I get your point, his appeal pales in comparison to country superstars’ obsession with Bruno Mars.
And honestly, I do enjoy Bruno Mars. Because while he does occasionally write duds (“The Lazy Song”, “Gorilla”) he actually has charisma and stage presence and a knack at penning earworms. He also has some experience as a producer via his work with The Smeezingtons; which is essentially hit and miss (but when they do hit, it’s quite enjoyable)
That said, Thomas Rhett will NEVER be Bruno Mars no matter how much he wishes it. Because Rhett has minimal charisma, weak vocals, a stage presence that pales tragically in comparison to countless pop stars, and poor production choices. At best, Thomas Rhett is Country’s answer to Mike Posner.
September 2, 2015 @ 11:15 am
Try Mike Posner’s latest EP. It’s acoustic and actually pretty deep. Nothing like his crappy older material. And far better than Rhett!
September 1, 2015 @ 4:33 pm
Hey Trigger
Danielle Bradbury’s new song is terrible.
September 1, 2015 @ 6:32 pm
They ripped off War, but I have Outkast running through my head after listening to it.
“My baby don’t mess around, because she loves me so, and this I know fa shoooooow…”
September 1, 2015 @ 7:25 pm
Fucking awful beyond awful. Great rant. I’m going to puke now.
September 1, 2015 @ 7:38 pm
This song should be nominated for the worst country song of 2015.
September 2, 2015 @ 11:11 am
I object to the 14 y/o girls having undeveloped palates comment. When I was 14 myself and my friends were listening to great music – we wouldn’t have put up with this bullshit. Try 8 years old. Such a shame that bro-country has given teenage girls a bad rap – so many of them wouldn’t go near this stuff with a bargepile.
That aside, love the review!
September 2, 2015 @ 2:37 pm
Of course, I’m speaking in generalities. When I was 14-years-old I was listening to extended jams by The Allman Brothers and The Grateful Dead, and thought Garth Brooks was was a poseur.
Luckily, Thomas Rhett included some 8-year-olds in his video too, so he’s got all his bases covered.
September 2, 2015 @ 7:47 pm
You were right. Garth Brooks has always been a poser and would have gladly jumped on the bro/EDM/metro or whatever bandwagon like a chicken on a june bug had the crap been available back then. Talented? Well I guess so but when you change your accent from song to song that exposes you. Or it should. Bottom line, Garth is not real country and never was.
Sad thing is Garth looks like a country giant when compared to this Rhett prick (BTW what in the flying fuck is this asshat’s real name?). Hope his 15 minutes are up soon but I kinda doubt it.
September 2, 2015 @ 6:49 pm
I’d rather listen to Justin Bieber than this garbage. bad isn’t it?
September 2, 2015 @ 7:04 pm
So this is what getting ear-fucked feels like?
September 2, 2015 @ 7:20 pm
I lasted 21 seconds into the video, and not even a verse into the lyrics. That is a new low.
September 2, 2015 @ 8:38 pm
Also in addition to my rant above in the top pic the sumbitch looks like an extra on the set of the original planet of the apes. Damn, if the standard of female approval was as it is today back in the 70s and 80s I would have been making that money grow (lol?).
September 4, 2015 @ 3:03 pm
The generic pop songs keep coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VVtOIzPg9Q
All of his songs are about a party or a girl and sex, the same overdone sex sells theme typical in pop music. Yawn.
September 6, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
Best review ever read. Way to fuck em up Trig. What hypocritical jackasses these guys are.
September 11, 2015 @ 10:35 am
He dropped another cheesy not country song “I Feel Good” ft. LunchMoney Lewis. Who?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX5P2v9jcQ0
Is he making a video for every song? Ugh, the worst music is getting the most promotion.
September 20, 2015 @ 5:01 pm
What kind of grown ass man calls himself “Lunch Money?”
September 13, 2015 @ 5:39 pm
Hey Trigg, remember when you wrote the article about you inspiring an Eric Church song?
Well rants like this make me think you may have also inspired a song called The Vengful One by Disturbed.
Give it a look up and tell me if it doesn’t sound like it’s talking about you.
September 24, 2015 @ 1:51 pm
It believes that this is actually country music.
It does this whenever it’s told….
June 6, 2016 @ 9:13 pm
………………….I loathe being the bearer of horrendous news, but………………………..this has ACTUALLY been selected the fourth single from his stupid album over mildly listenable moments “The Day You Stopped Looking Back” and “Playing With Fire”. =X =X =X
So, yup………………………you can now pretty much re-publish this verbatim as a single review and rant! -__-
June 7, 2016 @ 3:22 pm
Whoever said this is a novelty song is wrong, this pile of dog turd is now going to radio and for airplay. Thomas Rhett is just an idiot and a fake POS that wants fame and money at anything or anyone’s expense. Dude can’t go away fast enough.
June 10, 2016 @ 5:18 am
Dude, you’re making me laugh. Your comments are SO harsh. So Thomas’ song didn’t pass your smell test, eh? I understand your frustration given the goal of this website. But country sorta died a couple of decades ago when “new country” came along. 99% of the country that you’re hearing on the radio today is churned out by artists who sing formula songs using key approved words, phases, and imagery, like “pick-up truck”, “back porch”, “beer”, etc….
So why is that?
Because 99% of the folks who listen to “new country” are BUYING new country. What sells, sells. And yes, it IS all about the money. Don’t fault the man that pursues it. YOU WOULD TOO if you could sing, sell albums, and get rich. Are you telling me you wouldn’t?
Want a good example? Remember Mary Chapin Carpenter and all those great country hits? I’m a fan, but not of all her “great country hits”. Mary was a local gal in D.C. and played the local clubs. Her genre was FOLK, not Country. Before she made it big, her songs were true and honest, and you knew they came from the heart (have a listen for yourself if you don’t believe me). Now I can only say this as a fan, but Mary too “sold out” and pursued the big money. I don’t blame her one bit. She was discovered, and lots of money started to come her way. Seen any recent MCC hits? The answer is pretty much “no”, because she was honest enough to return to her roots. Good on her. IMHO, that’s what she did best anyway. I don’t fault her for what she did. I’m glad she’s back to her folk roots. For those of you who enjoyed her country hits, good on ya’. I won’t buy them, but you’re welcome to.
As far as genres are concerned, some of the more interesting music sometimes comes from crossover tunes. Music is constantly evolving and changing. Some changes are good, some not so. Music that gets airtime is >music that sells<. That's always how it's been. Listen to what you like, and ignore what you don't like – your choice. When personal preferences start to go a bit astray is when folks start tearing down other folks. That aint "country". It doesn't have much to do with the music but more about the person doing the tearing down. You can dislike something a person creates without tearing a person down, or looking down on folks who like their creations. I bet you'd probably hate a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, yet there are many who like the artwork on display there. I don't tear them down (though I personally had difficulty understanding the significance of an all black canvas when I went on a school visit a long, long time ago – I guess it speaks to someone).
So for Rhett's "Vacation", I'd say enjoy it or hate it as you wish. Music reaches many different people and tastes. Enjoy what you can while you're on this earth. I don't see the need in tearing people down. Those aren't the country values I was raised on. Good luck on your mission.
June 10, 2016 @ 9:47 am
” YOU WOULD TOO if you could sing, sell albums, and get rich. Are you telling me you wouldn’t?”
I wouldn’t.
June 26, 2016 @ 11:51 am
I think you all need to take a deep breath. And chill out. It’s not that big a deal. If you don’t like it you don’t like it. If you do, you do. Congrats. Now move on with your lives
July 12, 2016 @ 4:07 pm
Thoughts on Jon Pardi’s album?
July 12, 2016 @ 4:59 pm
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-jon-pardis-california-sunrise/
August 3, 2016 @ 5:17 pm
Amen,,,,,,WTF, I hated it..is this what Country Music has become? GJ,,The Hag,, Conway and a host of other greats are doing back flips in their graves right now. King George Please save us.
September 12, 2016 @ 6:42 am
I think this song is amazing.
October 5, 2016 @ 12:58 pm
Those that hate the song, don’t listen then, pretty simple actually. Instead of going off the charts and putting your hate into, just don’t listen. Change the channel morons simple. Those that like it enjoy it. Wow the rest of you need to go. Point on.
March 28, 2018 @ 3:43 pm
Yet another child left behind.
listen close and you might learn something.
Don’t walk into a taco bell, announce that you hate tacos and never eat tacos, force people to eat spinach at taco bell and tell them that tacos evolved and if they don’t like it to go eat somewhere else.
I’m not about to change because some shithead asshole wants to call Pop Music Country music.
I won’t be lied to.
and I won’t rest until I get Country Music on Country Radio.
and that means Thomas Rhett won’t be