Tim McGraw’s “Lookin For That Girl” (A Rant)
WARNING: Heavy Language
What kind of fresh hell has Tim McGraw unearthed here? Apparently the once high-flying country star has been inadvertently inoculating himself with inebriating bronzer agents from his incessant chemical tan treatments that have now seeped into his blood stream. And combined with an undiagnosed eating disorder that has rendered McGraw’s figure to that of a 55-year-old Venice beach female body builder succumbing to a lifetime of melanoma, Tim has robbed precious nutrients from his gray matter, stupefying him into such an absolute scientifically-infallible vacuum and void of self-awareness that physicists want to employ it to see if it is the ultimate key to tabletop fusion. “Lookin’ For That Girl” isn’t a cry for relevancy, it is a barbaric yawp, a banshee scream, a cacophonous ode to the onset of monoculture and wholesale mediocrity.
The lyrics of “Lookin’ For That Girl” read like a “How To” manual to date rape, which is similar to how this song maliciously violates your earholes with such unwanted and violently barbed penetrations that you find yourself overwhelmed with such desperate loathing for your situation you pray for nothing less than the sweet release of death itself.
That girl, she’s a party all nighter A little Funky Cold Medina, little strawberry winer That girl, She’s a love gunslinger Neon Jager-bomb country okie singer That girl she’s a sugar sweet drive by Hold my dreams in her blue jeans, oh my Yellow hammer south Georgia Mississippi chick Trick cherry wine, Louisiana lipstickThough this song is supposed to be urban and hip, it comes across as the cries of an introverted internet masturbator who never matured past a middle school mentality. Funky Cold Medina? “Hold my dream in her blue jeans, oh my!” are you fucking kidding me? This song makes me hate sex, and is simply a smattering of ultra-stereotypical urbanisms chased by countryisms trying to apologize for itself and accomplish the widest possible splash zone of victimhood with its catchy pap like when a hippo turns his hind quarters towards the herd and scats the hell out of anything and everything aided by a helicoptering tail.
The icing on this urine-drenched urinal cake topped with cigarette butts, spent gum, and used inside-out prophylactics oozing their venereal slurry out on the diarrhea-infested floor is the fact that through the entire drum machine-driven song Tim McGraw is singing through an Auto-tune filter turned to 11. T-Pain, eat your top hat-wearing heart out. I’ve been saying for years now that Tim McGraw is more machine than man, but not even I could have predicted this unmitigated rejection and headlong flight from anything analog or authentic. Hell, why do we even need a human to sing this fucking song? We should just have one of those iRobot floor cleaners sing it. At least that way it would be on hand to swab up the hurl this monstrosity will invariably evoke from enlightened music listener’s disgruntled guts. And like an iRobot incidentally, “Lookin’ For That Girl” will also freak the everliving shit out of your dog.
What made Tim McGraw one of the greatest country music performers for a generation wasn’t his singing necessarily, though he’s a gifted and inspired vocalist without question. It wasn’t his songwriting. And it wasn’t his unique or creative approach to performance. It’s that Tim McGraw could somehow out of the massive crush of song material every artist must sift through, select the very best compositions that would invariably become the soundtrack to so many people’s poignant, life-changing moments. “Don’t Take The Girl,” “Live Like You Were Dying”—these songs inspired millions, and spoke straight to the heart of people looking for meaning and solace in the desperate throes of human emotional frailty. And now we get “Truck Yeah,” and “Lookin’ For That Girl” that makes a two-time Country Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year sound like Stephen Hawking reciting middle school sex ramblings.
The worst country song ever? I’d add the addendum that since there’s really nothing here that is even remotely close to “country”, ingratiating it by calling it the worst “country” song might be inadvertent flattery. And also, we are so early in 2014, this may be an unfortunate signifier of where we’re headed and could be toppled at any moment. But except for these qualifying points, sure, let’s sleep on the idea for a little bit, but I won’t put my dukes up against anyone who would assert that Tim McGraw’s “Lookin’ For That Girl” is the worst song in the history of country music.
You’re 46-years-fucking-old Tim McGraw.
Two guns way down!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
January 15, 2014 @ 10:13 am
Is it bad that I did not even want to make it to the singing part b/c the intro was so bad???
I decided to make my self listen to it for all the bad things i’ve done this week. Punishment served.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:19 am
Been waiting for this rant. No disappointments. Thanks!
January 15, 2014 @ 10:27 am
You’re vocabulary is absolutely phenomenal”¦.couldnt be more embarrassed that Tim did this song, the guy finally releases music he wants to after like 5 years or whatever and he follows up Two Lanes of Freedom with this horseshit?! Why he didnt release Nashville Without You to radio is beyond me and makes me question where the fuck he is heading. Scott Borchetta apparently forgot to mention to his artists that they need to cut the pop-douche productions in their songs as well. If this song cracks the Top 40 at radio I’m gonna throw up all over the place
January 15, 2014 @ 10:28 am
Such doesn’t surprise me. This is just the natural next step in Timmehh’s “evolution” as an artist after “Truck Yeah” and “Southern Girl.” Cry for relevance, indeed.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:47 am
I’m expecting at this point an eventual re-mix for Pop radio featuring Pitbull! =X =X =X
Funny thing is, Pitbull’s frequent ability to energetically embrace a song would make that the best part of the re-mix! =/
January 15, 2014 @ 12:27 pm
YES…My immediate thought upon hearing the drum machine was “re-mix ready”, which was confirmed by the horrific “that girl, that girl” vocoder ride! I’m thinking of a rap right now about “___________” followed by that catchy hook. “We were kissin in a jon boat, that girl that girl” “Spilled my beer so I grabbed her by the dang throat, that girl that girl”
No, I’m not a songwriter but I know one. I’ve got Ableton, this could be my breakout. I have a D-28, but it’s just for the cover shoot.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:45 pm
And, of course, there’s the inevitable instance of the featured rapper elbowing in a non-clever “country” pun that’s a four letter word beginning with the letter C! -__-
January 15, 2014 @ 10:29 am
Will this guy’s midlife crisis ever end? What a joke he’s turned into.
January 20, 2014 @ 3:59 pm
It’s actually quite sad when you think about it. As Trig says, McGraw had some great songs once upon a time, even if they were always pop country and he never wrote any of them himself. Even “Highway Don’t Care” was an admirable if not especially great song. I own his Greatest Hits albums and am not ashamed of it, but this crap ain’t getting anywhere near my computer or albums collection.
I think he should just retire as it is. The man has more money than he can ever spend from his own career, much less from his marriage to Faith Hill. What exactly is he trying to prove? Better yet, what does he NEED to prove or even say with this song? “Hey, I’m Tim McGraw. I used to lead the pack but now I’m scampering to catch up with it”? It’s a bit baffling, especially considering that he wrote the forward in the liner notes for my “Best of Johnny Paycheck” CD.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:29 am
Epic rant! Hopefully this Dallas Buyers Club phase is just a passing midlife crisis.
On the downside, I actually had to listen to the song to see the trainwreck for myself. Searching for something good to say… the lyrics in the chorus aren’t awful. Does that count?
January 15, 2014 @ 12:02 pm
Dude…Dallas Buyers Club is a fantastic movie. Don’t put that title anywhere near Tim McGraw. Fuck.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:31 am
Not sure I can even bring myself to listen. McFlaw is a bottom feeder. So his recording a song like this suits him fine. Yet his aging female fans will eat it up.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:32 am
“South Georgia Mississippi chick”? I’m really confused as to where this girl is from.
June 6, 2014 @ 3:11 pm
Born in southern Georgia, raised in Mississippi. Or born in Mississippi, raised in southern Georgia. Which is it?
January 15, 2014 @ 10:34 am
Why is hip-hop/rap constantly being added by male so called country singers these days? That that what must be done in order to be “cool” & “hip” now? Is that what must be done to appeal to the masses? Comprising the country sound just to fit in is sad. Said it before, but this genre is going down the toilet .
January 15, 2014 @ 10:47 am
I hate to quote Toby Keith, but he said it first: “You hear the hip-hop thing start kicking in, and you start going, ”˜Is that what we gotta do now to have a hit? Is that what I need every one of my songs to sound like now?”™”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/toby-keith-says-country-shouldnt-make-a-living-off-of-hip-hop
It’s coming to the point where artists like Tim McGraw must release songs like this if they want to stay on radio.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:05 pm
Gotta give Toby props for pointing that out, but by God if I don’t think he’s going downhill fast, too. The arrangements for some of his hits these past few years have been so goddamn annoying. I mean, the instrumental arrangement for “Beers Ago” was just grating on the ears–it literally hurt to listen to the intro to that song. “Drinks After Work” was somewhat similar. It wasn’t painful, but it certainly was annoying.
Am I the only person who thinks this, by the way? Anybody else notice how incessantly annoying some of TK’s instrumental arrangements have been, these past 2-3 years?
January 15, 2014 @ 1:10 pm
toby keith really dosent have room to talk his just as bad instead of doing nothing but talking shit about pop country why don’t you promote the artists who are keeping country music alive fuck toby keith he don’t know what country music is
January 15, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
For the love of all things holy, this wasn’t a ringing endorsement of Toby Keith, I was simply pointing out something that he said, which in light of this Tim McGraw song, appears to be true. Yes, tell me I need to support the music that I do “nothing” but talk shit in the same breath that you say ” fuck toby keith” and accuse me of supporting him.
I am working my fingers till they bleed trying to promote artists keeping country music alive, and it’s not my fault if it is stupid shit like this rant that gets all the focus, or that some people refuse to read the stuff supporting music but will take the time to bitch that it never happens because they’re too lazy to click on the home page or they let Facebook be their internet filters.
Here’s some article supporting the music that you can read that are on the home page right now:
Albums To Look Forward To In 2014
https://savingcountrymusic.com/albums-to-look-forward-to-in-2014
Jayke Orvis & The Broken Band Crash Bus in Colorado
https://savingcountrymusic.com/jayke-orvis-the-broken-band-crash-bus-in-colorado
Review ”“ Johnny Cash”™s “She Used To Love Me A Lot”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/review-johnny-cashs-she-used-to-love-me-a-lot
10 Badass Willie Nelson Moments
https://savingcountrymusic.com/10-badass-willie-nelson-moments
Lead Guitar Player Will Indian Passes Away
https://savingcountrymusic.com/lead-guitar-player-will-indian-passes-away
Interesting you didn’t feel compelled to leave a comment on any of those. But even more interesting that people can’t see that ALL of these articles, including this one do support music by proxy by raising awareness of what is happening in the country genre. If you came to have your already-established music opinions reinforced, you came to the wrong place.
January 16, 2014 @ 9:33 pm
Trigger, I try to read most of your articles. That was funny as hell. I was rolling. And with Wayne’s autopsy result article, you had me in tears. So what exactly are you saying Trigger? What exactly do you expect from your readers? What would you like to see more of from us in the way of support for SCM? Please air your concerns, your disappointments.
January 16, 2014 @ 9:43 pm
Sonas,
I appreciate it. All I’ve ever asked from my readers are their eyes. I don’t expect everyone to read every one of my articles, I just hope that they understand I am trying to do the best I can as a one man operation, and before they complain that I’m not covering this, or not covering that, search out the articles that are trying to support the music that as every week passes, get less and less traffic. True music journalism is dying, and it takes a commitment from all of us to keep it alive.
January 20, 2014 @ 10:51 am
I remember a couple of years ago when McGraw released the single “Better Than I Use To Be”, the song received a lot of air play but was no where near as good as the original version by Sammy Kershaw, you listen to Tim’s version and you here a guy just singing a song. You listen to Sammy and you here a guy that lived the song and you believe him.
Yet Sammy Kershaw received 0% air play for the song yet McGraw gets put on a pedestal for an ok job.
Shows which one is the corporate puppet.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:42 am
About a minute deep into this monstrosity, I was praying that there would be an abrupt pause and McGraw would interject: “JUST KIDDING! I’m just testing you! Here’s what my lead single REALLY sounds like!”……….and follow it up with something that stands up to some of his earlier output.
………………why, oh why, didn’t this happen? ; __ ; ; __ ; ; __ ;
*
As radioactive as the lyrics and Auto-Tune are, what actually makes this a particular weapon of mass destruction on my eardrums is the devastating repetition. I don’t dare wish to listen again and count the umpteen total number of instances “That girl!” is uttered, but it’s probably in the same ballpark “Imma be!” was interjected by will.i.am in the Black Eyed Peas’ colossal corrosive 2010 hit “Imma Be”. =X =X =X
All that does is make me want to listen to Jennifer Nettles’ new solo album “That Girl” instead! 😉
January 15, 2014 @ 10:55 am
His recent singles have been the worst song releases of his career. But at the same time I don’t think Tim has really changed that much. It’s the industry that has changed. Tim is not a visionary. He follows the mainstream. I never thought he was a good vocalist. His strength has always been marketing himself to female audiences, being attractive to girls and making them feel wanted. I think “Truck Yeah” was more out of character for him than any of the songs about girls.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:57 am
In retrospect, maybe Curb Records actually knew what they were doing by preventing McGraw from releasing new music. This song makes me sick.
January 15, 2014 @ 11:00 am
Yellow hammer south Georgia Mississippi chick
Trick cherry wine, Louisiana lipstick?????? What the fuck does that even mean?
January 15, 2014 @ 11:10 am
Those were my exact words when I read the lyrics!!
January 16, 2014 @ 12:36 am
Nobody knows what it means, but it’s provocative!
In all seriousness, I couldn’t make it past the first minute. Beyond not being a good country song, it’s not even a good song. I don’t know who’s listening to this and genuinely enjoying it. I can’t even begin to fathom who this would appeal to.
January 16, 2014 @ 9:30 am
And who’s ever heard of this “body like a honeycomb” nonsense? That’s pop for ya. Just a bunch of bs thrown together.
January 15, 2014 @ 11:04 am
This is a shame. I actually thought McGraw made a step in the right direction with his last album, “Two Lanes of Freedom.” It definitely had some duds on it…BIG duds(“Truck Yeah” and “Southern Girls”) but there was some other damn good songs on it that reminded of older Tim McGraw. It wasn’t necessarily stone cold traditional country music, but they were some real songs with substance that was pleasing to the ear.
This new one is a mess. I’d love to know what it really going through his head recording this.
January 15, 2014 @ 11:16 am
I don’t have any Tim McGraw music in my house.
“Funky Cold Medina” is a hip hop song written by Young MC, Michael L. Ross and Matt Dike,[1] and first performed by Tone LÅc. It was the second single from LÅc’s debut album LÅc-ed After Dark (1989). The single was released on March 18, 1989, and rose to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following month where it went platinum, selling over one million copies. It peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #13 in May of that year.
The song title refers to a fictional aphrodisiac, which is presented in the accompanying video as a steaming love potion. The lyrics tell the tale of LÅc’s initially unsuccessful attempts to attract women at a bar. At the suggestion of another patron, he plies his intended with “that medina thing.” He first tests the drink on his dog, who immediately latches onto his leg and attempts to arouse himself sexually, and subsequently experiences increased popularity among his canine contemporaries. LÅc’s subsequent encounters with women also backfire on him; first he attracts a transsexual woman,[2] and then a woman intent on marriage from the very first date (recounting his experiences on the game show Love Connection). In the end, LÅc concludes the concoction is simply not worth the trouble (and the video shows him regretfully emptying the bottle into a storm drain……
January 15, 2014 @ 11:26 am
I’m pretty sure that Tim McGraw has been dead or incapacitated for several years, and that the guy portraying him recently is actually AJ from the Backstreet Boys. The black plastic “cowboy” hat was my first clue, but everything else backs it up.
January 15, 2014 @ 11:31 am
Wow, first off those lyrics destroyed part of my brain.
Then I listened to the song and now I have to die.
Thanks Tim, you just made life less worth living. 🙁
January 15, 2014 @ 11:41 am
Those are some terrible lyrics. Going to go listen to the Mavericks to cleanse my ears.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:02 pm
Seems pretty messed up to me that Tim McGraw is trying to be Brantley Gilbert. Or not. Never a huge fan anyway.
Best comment from the EW site where the song was posted:
“Gotta say, more looking forward to Weird Al’s version “lookin’ for fat girls”.”
January 15, 2014 @ 6:07 pm
since you mentioned it, now would be a great time for wierd al to break into country. He’d have an ishload of material to work with and personally I think “chew tobacco spit” would sound great on top of a polka beat
January 15, 2014 @ 12:03 pm
Seriously, OMG ! Tim you have sold what little was left of your soul to the Devil. Or at least Colt Ford, oh wait, same thing.Please do not refer to your band anymore as the dancehall doctors you would get laughed off the stage at a real Texas dancehall with this crap. Have some pride man.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:10 pm
And this is the same guy that sang “Just to See You Smile”???? Don’t want to believe it! I thought he was on the right track with “Better That I Used to Be”.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:51 pm
I didn’t. Tim’s version of Better Than I Used To Be is karaoke compared to Sammy Kershaw’s version. Tim had no feeling attached to it and it was that song that made me start to question him.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:20 pm
I agree, Kershaw’s version was way better. Unfortunately for Sammy, vocal talent doesn’t mean much these days.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:11 pm
Oh, and looking at those lyrics, that looks for all the world like a rip-off of “She’s Country” from Jason Aldean.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:11 pm
This is bad, but the lyrics don’t get to the horrid level of Blake Shelton’s “Doing What She Likes”
Worst verse ever in a country song:
She likes it when I bring home fresh fajitas
And mix up a pitcher of margaritas
WTF!!! what the hell is fresh fajitas you bring home? That isn’t possible. And you don’t need to rhyme every fucking line, so if you were looking to rhyme with margaritas… get out the dictionary.
McGraw, how about you and Faith get off the oxy and meth. Look at her teeth, yeah right she needed braces????
January 15, 2014 @ 12:12 pm
Why didn’t anybody tell Mr. McGraw that his accent, ” singing” and processing makes the hyphenated non-word of “Neon Jager” sound just like…
Yeah.
Wow.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:15 pm
Great rant. Tim’s last good album was “All I Want”. Can’t believe that he things this is okay to put out there. Just horrible.
I’ll never “hate the hustle” when it comes to a man trying make a dollar, but I will use the SiriusXM “skip” feature liberally when songs like this come on.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:34 pm
“[A] smattering of ultra-stereotypical urbanisms chased by countryisms trying to … accomplish the widest possible splash zone of victimhood … like when a hippo turns his hind quarters towards the herd and scats the hell out of anything and everything aided by a helicoptering tail… [T]his urine-drenched urinal cake topped with cigarette butts, spent gum, and used inside-out prophylactics oozing their venereal slurry out on the diarrhea-infested floor…”
Best Trig rant since “Boys ‘Round Here”! 😀
I haven’t heard the song, but when I saw the lyrics on Farce The Music this morning, I had to ask myself, “Who ordered the word salad?” (“Day-Glo radio slow ride… Sugar-sweet drive-by… Yellow hammer south Georgia, Mississippi chick, trick cherry wine… Louisiana lipstick … drop it down summer heat… Body like a honeycomb, smile like a country song…” LOLwhut?)
January 15, 2014 @ 12:42 pm
Not usually such a big fan of the rants, but . . . .
Bravo, sir–bravo. [Slow clap]
(Mental image of that hippocopter is gonna be with me a while–thanks for that.)
And, nice touch with the iRobot cleanup duties!
So much to like!! Except for the song, of course. Will do my best to avoid ever hearing it. Thanks for the warning!
January 15, 2014 @ 2:09 pm
Truth be known, I’m not a particularly big fan of the rants either, and would love to retire them. As fun as they might be to write and read, I’m not confident they are the best way to “save country music” aside from maybe creating attention for the site because of their popularity. My plan is for there to be less and less, if any of them in the future, or save them for the most egregious misdeeds. In the end I felt Tim McGraw’s misdeed here was egregious enough to pull the trigger, but folks need to get right with the idea that one day these rants will likely be gone.
January 15, 2014 @ 3:41 pm
I think the rants are funny, but they can be a bit too much for me to share with certain people I know who have more “delicate sensibilities” so to speak, but otherwise would agree with the point of the rant. But at the same time, how do you give something like this a regular review? Every part of this song is garbage, it doesn’t deserve a real review.
January 16, 2014 @ 6:54 am
I REALLY Love and Enjoy your rants. They are always entertaining to read. Please don’t cut them out.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:42 pm
If ya’ll want a really good laugh (and a new appreciation for what we have in Trigger), read this alternative review of the song:
http://tasteofcountry.com/tim-mcgraw-lookin-for-that-girl/
—
WARNING: This section of their song review might cause uncontrolled vomitting:
“The scream of a pedal steel keeps the track safely on the country side of the radio, while his use of auto-tune points forward toward what could be the genre”™s future.
Read More: Tim McGraw, ”˜Lookin”™ for That Girl”™ [Listen] | http://tasteofcountry.com/tim-mcgraw-lookin-for-that-girl/?trackback=tsmclip:
January 15, 2014 @ 12:48 pm
If the Insane Clown Posse or brokenCYDE were releasing a song to “country” radio without changing their style one bit, both Taste of Country and Roughstock would praise it as “innovative”, “game-changing”, “refreshing” and “compelling”. -__- -__- -__-
January 15, 2014 @ 1:16 pm
These sites may as well just be run by the record labels, especially Roughstock. They love everybody and every single is great and every new artist is amazingly talented. I don’t even think the labels PR flacks could be more gushy and praiseworthy. I get being positive but come on they can’t like everything can they?
January 15, 2014 @ 2:56 pm
And look, sometimes Farce The Music, for instance, goes a little too far off in the opposite direction in that they can be dismissive about almost anything related to corporate country or “country” music……..and that can be disconcerting also.
I just wish journalists would do their job in giving country/”country” music a fair shake as well as keep their critical faculties engaged. I listen to both music that is shamelessly commercial as well as far off the frontage road. I’ll give even artists I’m generally not inclined to like a chance with their releases. I don’t automatically dismiss a release prior to hearing it like I feel Farce The Music occasionally do, but I sure as hell aren’t going to kowtow to every single release and play devil’s advocate for the sake of playing devil’s advocate.
January 15, 2014 @ 3:34 pm
Yes being negative reflexively about everything is also not very interesting either. I also have wide ranging musical tastes and I like a lot of stuff that most people here probably can’t stand but country has always been the genre I’m most passionate about and when people just go along with damaging trends it drives me nuts. People need to be honest and say something is awful when that is what it is and not just spew happy talk about everything.
And seriously who likes everything?
January 15, 2014 @ 5:33 pm
When sites such as those praise *everything* indiscriminately, they lose intellectual and critical credibility.
What they don’t seem to realize is that if they were at least willing to admit when a given song is clearly a peice of crap, more people might actually be willing to listen when they claim that some other pop country song is good or worth people’s time.
My guess is that they are designed to be PR sites.
January 15, 2014 @ 5:40 pm
I sure pray to Goddess they are! Because if they’re not PR sites, then it’s frightening beyond compare.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:14 pm
Yep, that’s Taste of Country for you. Shame about Roughstock. They used to be great.
January 15, 2014 @ 4:07 pm
Is that much auto tune even still a thing in pop or hip hop at this point? I don’t listen to much of the mainstream stuff, but this sounded more like what was going on several years ago. I guess they think the future of country is every other genres past?
January 15, 2014 @ 5:26 pm
I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Music Row thinks. They’re about nine months to a year behind the pop culture curve, if not more at times.
January 15, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
No, it’s not. In pop and hip hop, they’re pulling back the amount of Auto-Tune. Hell Jay-Z put out the song “Death of Auto-tune” in 2009 and T-Pain is seen as a joke. This is once again country music being years behind the curve, yet trying to sell us on the idea it must “evolve” by adding elements that were outmoded years ago.
January 18, 2014 @ 3:01 am
While there’s plenty of truth to what you’ve said here, I do see some serious attempts at Auto-Tune making a comeback on Urban and Rhythmic radio: spearheaded by Future.
Future has been nearly ubiquitous on those formats over the past year, and he may get even bigger this year. He’s essentially a watered-down Drake or John Legend and the amount of Auto-Tune he uses is unbearable.
I think the tug-of-war is ongoing. Maybe the success of Lorde and Macklemore will inspire similar understated breakthroughs, but the ghosts of T-Pain will keep putting up a fight.
January 16, 2014 @ 9:44 am
That’s not the steel screaming it’s millions of country fans screaming while they run from this song like a scene in a horror movie.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
I remember Tim saying that when he heard Keith Whitley’s “Miami My Amy” he knew then what country music was. I can picture Keith turning over in his grave if he heard what’s being passed off as countdy music. Time to listen to some Shane Worley
January 15, 2014 @ 12:46 pm
How can he go into the studio and record something like this without realizing or caring how horrible it is. I mean, really is it worth the $$ to sell out and give in so easily? I can understand some of the others doing this….Luke, Jason, Brantley and those FL/GA boys….because they don’t know any better….but, come on Tim – why?
January 15, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
He was a washed up has-been that had been cut off from the drug we call “fame” for several years.
Then Taylor Swift came along and wrote a song about him which re-popularized him with a young female audience and the fame drug got turned back on.
He doesn’t care about the money (he already had plenty) and he doesn’t care about making quality music anymore. He wants his drug fix and he’ll do anything to do it. It’s no different at all form Miley Cyrus completely selling out her dignity and self respect for fame and attention.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:52 pm
Taylor Swift’s song about Tim McGraw came out just 2 years after “Live Like You Were Dying”, one of the most popular country hits of the last decade. Tim McGraw was still running strong in 2006, but he is definitely a has-been now. He would be better off retiring than releasing this succession of dirt-quality songs.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:04 pm
I am really looking forward to seeing Jason Isbell this Saturday. I mean really.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:19 pm
The metaphors and similies for the female form in this song are preposterous. it is like listening to a T Pain produced Song of Solomon.
Body like a honeycomb, hair like a field of corn, singer’s voice like a bag of douche.
“Your teats are as two frolicsome gazelles. Your voice as intoxicating as rum mixed into coke to sneak booze into an SEC game. selah.”
January 15, 2014 @ 2:23 pm
Her teeth are like the stars….they come out every night.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:39 pm
This is truly horrible.
It is not only a damning indictment of country music vocally, but also the song writing aspect as well. This infatuation to make everything rhyme and “slick” is destroying the genre, as it veers closer and closer to full blown hip-hop. The end result is this song. Lyrically content sacrificed for a stupid beat.
Honestly, when you listen to this mass-produced song writing shit, and compare it with something heartfelt and genuine (maybe like Isbell’s “Southeastern,” or Richard Shindell), the true horror of what our genre is turning into is stark.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:55 pm
It seems that mainstream country is devolving into beats and rhymes, without any melody or storytelling. If this trend continues, country will be like hip-hop, except with much dumber lyrics.
January 15, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
On a more macro level this song and some of the others that Tim McGraw and other veteran acts have released in the last couple of years is really sad and embarrassing on a lot of levels. It is kind of interesting to see how some artists react to the coming end of their relevancy as current hit making performer. Some seem to hang on for dear life and chase every trend and frankly embarrass themselves in the process while others seem to gracefully transition to the elder statesmen type role. It can’t be just the money because most of these acts have made plenty and they can still tour and make a decent if smaller living from that. Maybe it’s just an insecurity that some people have no matter what amount of success and adulation they have had. It’s why I have so much more respect for Alan Jackson and Vince Gill who have seemed to gracefully transition without compromising their legacies.
January 15, 2014 @ 2:37 pm
“Lookin”™ For That Girl” is the worst song in the history of country music.
It’s only the start of the year and i think you might be saying this even more Sadly.
January 15, 2014 @ 2:59 pm
“This Is How We Roll” will be the next Florida-Georgia Line single (which also features Luke Bryan)………..and that closely rivals this in unequivocal badness. So there you go already! -__-
January 15, 2014 @ 2:39 pm
What the hell is Tim McGraw thinking??????
This is by far one of the worst songs I have heard, in the country format. It’s beyond insulting to the intelligence, in particular because he’s turning himself into some weird-ass T-Pain autotuner.
The guy released some of my favorite songs a while back. Why the hell is he doing this now?
I can officially say that it is shameful to call yourself a fan of McGraw these days, in particular because he’s turned to the dark side, and as a wise old man once said, ”Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny”.
January 15, 2014 @ 2:39 pm
This song actually beat what I heard a couple of days ago and considered to possibly be the worst and saddest thing I’d every heard in my life (were they on drugs? They should be run right out of Nashville):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uCPI4-yHYc
It’s always funny when these younger guys without much talent try to touch something they don’t have the skill level to even get near:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__nBEjlmZT0
Miranda Lambert does the same thing Jason Aldean always does, where just strums one chord for an entire song but tried real hard to look cool and make it seems like she’s actually doing anything useful with the guitar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoFNu6Cu0q0
Main Stream country is just so embarrassing now. I’ve got serious issues with Eric Church but it’s hard to look at almost anyone else with much respect anymore at all.
January 15, 2014 @ 3:02 pm
My Jove! Even in live studio settings, the token banjo and programmed beats rear their heads in a Florida-Georgia Line setting! -__-
January 15, 2014 @ 3:09 pm
God, I love this site, Trigger. I wanted to share a good review I dug up from 2001’s album “Set This Circus Down.” I laugh now when I read what he was being criticized for back then.
http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/tim-mcgraw/Content?oid=2163516
January 15, 2014 @ 3:11 pm
Well I just listened. The auto tune is so heavy. Not to mention how bad the song sucks.
January 15, 2014 @ 3:41 pm
I’ve always had a soft spot for the guy. No matter what musical phase I was going through, I’ve always dug some of his songs. I’ve Even enjoyed his acting (dude killed it in “Friday Night Lights”) but that’s beside the point. I had a bad feeling about that duet with Nelly all those years ago. Look where we are now. Oh well, the Cycle of Shit WILL run its course and sooner or later this wii all be a memory…..God, I keep hoping.
January 15, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
Tim is CLINGING on for dear life. Love this rant.
January 15, 2014 @ 4:51 pm
oh my good sweet lord 6lb 9oz baby Jesus this is the worst song I have ever heard in my life
is this the same guy who sang “Don’t Take The Girl”, “Live Like You Were Dying” and “Indian Outlaw” and songs that actually had depth to them?
goodbye world
January 15, 2014 @ 4:58 pm
While I enjoy the rants for the exquisite expression of the English language, I do not enjoy the tone. They just seem to be jumping points for a bash-fest.
While the above song is not in any conceivable way enjoyable to listen to, it is far from the worst song ever. It is really just forgettable. I listened to it once. That will be the first and last time (as long as I have any semblance of control of the situation).
I understand what this site is about (I think, anyway) and Trigger mentioned in an earlier reply that this might not be the best way to go about it. With that I concur.
Not a country traditionalist, just a lover of good (in my opinion) music.
Go listen to good music
That is all, carry on.
January 15, 2014 @ 6:16 pm
T-pain could’ve made a better country song.
January 16, 2014 @ 4:24 am
He kind of actually did…here you go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6Sw26gUQo
January 17, 2014 @ 8:09 am
hey Mike, I’m bettin’ your link is already in WSM’s TOP ROTATION.
January 18, 2014 @ 1:40 pm
What is even stranger is that for all the bashing of Luke Bryan talking about T-Pain…it is Unknown Hinson who does a song with him…although it was part of Squidbillies and it was kinda funny.
January 15, 2014 @ 7:13 pm
Tim has not made any good music since the day he got married, same for his mrs.
January 17, 2014 @ 2:42 am
Tim McGraw married in 1996. The vast majority of his greatest songs came out after then, including “Just to See You Smile”, “Where the Green Grass Grows”, “Angry All the Time”, and of course “Live Like You Were Dying”. The peak of Tim’s career was in the late 90s and early 00s.
January 24, 2014 @ 2:25 pm
It’s definitely true for Faith. Faith’s always been on the pop side, but I liked her popish stuff before she got married. (Hey, I enjoy the traditional and the pop country.) By the time of the Cry album though, she was done, and she hasn’t done anything remotely interesting since. Faith’s a more talented vocalist, but I will take Taylor Swift over Red Umbrella or Lucky One anyday.
But first I’m going to go back over here and listen to some Brandy Clark, whose music was introduced to me through SCM, so thanks, Trigger!
January 15, 2014 @ 8:52 pm
while I like the previous singles, Highway Don’t Care and Anne I Owe You A Dance, I totally hate this song. I totally agree with SCM on this one. This is total crap not just on country perspective but pop music in general.
January 15, 2014 @ 9:58 pm
This has come to be expected of Tim and it’s really no surprise. However Easton Corbin’s new song “clockwork” is beyond disappointing. A once traditional leaning artist has now succumb to nashville’s slick and overproduced trends.
January 16, 2014 @ 9:21 am
If Tim gives one iota about country music and fans including his own he should get rid of this song immediately and pick something far better. It just proves that autotune is the worst thing to happen to music, ever, certainly has no place in country music, and adds nothing but makes it far worse. It’s the anti-country music. It’s completely disgusting that, like a rapper, Tim is using it as an “instrument” instead of the far superior country instruments we love listening to. This song makes me want to gather all autotune and bury it at the bottom of the ocean forever. It’s completely pop/rap and everything about it is atrocious. Which rejected songs from hell pile did they pull this out from under? Was it written by humans or by some random lyric generator?
January 16, 2014 @ 9:36 am
I know this is totally unrelated but I was wondering what you think about the Steve Grand song “All American Boy” and if an article was in the works. I ask because I think the song is OK. Not great just bland but that people will rally behind it not because of the music but because activism and thus any critique of the work fall flat. I find this is true for any gay modern act but country has had so few publicly icons that I think it will be even more so here. Although Chely Wright saw her sales drop… But then again she isn’t a young and shirtless male.
January 16, 2014 @ 12:56 pm
I’ll have to look deeper into that song Bear to give a fair take on it. Unfortunately there are so many songs, albums, and artists out there, I can’t review, feature, or sometimes even listen to everything, so I usually focus on things that are representative of wider trends, or that are not getting fair recognition. I’ll try to give it a deeper listen when I get a chance.
January 16, 2014 @ 4:29 pm
I listened to that song when it was released and everyone was going crazy for it, and it was just like you said, bland. And yet it was all over the media and everyone was loving it, and very, very specifically mentioning that he was “the first openly gay country singer!” then following that sentence up by all but saying “*wink wink!*” after “openly” and then quickly throwing in “oh yeah ‘cept for Chely Wright, but no one cares about her anymore anyway” at the end.
What really bugged me is that there was no critique of the song, no real reviews of it, that I read anyway. Everything was 100% based on the fact that the singer is gay. Obviously it’s coming from the opposite perspective, but when you get to the bottom of it, how is that any different from people who might hate it simply because he is gay? Either way it’s not about the song, or the music, or the talent, it’s all about his sexuality.
January 16, 2014 @ 11:07 am
I don’t listen to Tim McGraw.
I don’t know one of his songs.
I pretty much avoid most of what Music Row has to offer.
I would rather listen to one of the buskers on Lower Broadway and throw him a $5 bill than listen to the nonsense produced on Music Row.
I thought that McGraw did a good job in the movie I saw him in (Country Strong, I think).
I do appreciate Trig’s unvarnished array of metaphors, similes, and other creative writing in this rant, though.
January 16, 2014 @ 11:55 am
Constant dieting and tanning will not turn back time. Tan Mom had to go to tanning bed rehab.
January 16, 2014 @ 1:10 pm
“I’m readin “street slang for dummies”
Cause they put pop in my country
I want more for my money
The way it was back then”
Right……..
January 16, 2014 @ 3:45 pm
Let this be a warning to you from me. I have an exclusive contract with country music, along with my pal Lipgloss. All pop country music songs will have at least one reference to either or both of us in the lyrics.
So if you decide to release a country music song, there had better be something in there about me or my pal, or you will be hearing from my legal team and we are going to fleece you blind! You have been warned!
January 16, 2014 @ 6:53 pm
Welcome to the club. Pardon me while I slide my fine ass up in a Silvarado.
January 18, 2014 @ 1:44 pm
Hey, let me interject. All bro and pop country songs must feature a reference to me too. And do not make the mistake of confusing me with my obviously less bro-tastic cousin, cold beer. Get this straight….I am ICE Cold Beer…there IS a difference. ANd woe be to you if you do not realize that….for my high powered legal team sponsored by Big Machine Records is ready to strike!
January 21, 2014 @ 3:16 am
Don’t forget about me. I had better get a shout out in every bro country song as well. And I had better not have a name attached to my title. Zac Brown tried pulling that with Sweet Annie, and I had some choice words for him. But he’s not bro country, so he is harmless.
And when you talk about me, the only accepted way to communicate to me is either “Hey” or any other popular word that is similar. Mr. Borschetta commands it!!!
January 16, 2014 @ 4:51 pm
As a teenager of the 90s, and hearing these goofy lyrics, it reminds me of the Alternative Music and Grunge era of rock. Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana and a slew of others like them made a career off of writing gibberish. Looks like country has hit that wall now.
January 16, 2014 @ 5:48 pm
If that’s the case, I hope we see the country equivalent of Lilith Fair in a few years…
January 17, 2014 @ 9:41 am
Personally, I think this stuff is country’s equivalent of the worst of the ’80s glam metal, but that was still pretty funny. 😀
January 16, 2014 @ 7:36 pm
Oh heavens to Betsy! Where’s some Wade or some Boland or Sturgill or Dwight to get this out of my head! Geez what’s this world coming to. Save me Trigger! Now!
January 17, 2014 @ 11:58 pm
this is fucking horrible. I blame Borchetta.
January 18, 2014 @ 5:53 pm
I’m with you on this one.
January 19, 2014 @ 12:09 am
I hate to say it but this actually makes “the boys round here” sound like an icon of traditional country music. I can’t stand Tim McGraw but I am still embarrassed for him. What a flaming wreck his artistic integrity as been reduced to. Truck Yeah!
January 19, 2014 @ 2:06 pm
The problem is a combination of many things. When you look at “Two Lanes of Freedom,” the album was absolutely phenomenal. “Truck Yeah” by itself was a throwaway song, garbage as a single, especially as a lead-off single. But when listening to the entire album, I don’t find myself skipping it, solely because if it hadn’t been a single, it would have been a catchy little album cut that would otherwise be forgotten. “Southern Girl” was decent-to-good, but again, if it hadn’t been a single, it wouldn’t have been a track that would be overly memorable.
What made “Two Lanes Of Freedom” such a stellar release were the album cuts. “One Of Those Nights” and “Highway Don’t Care” were the standout singles from the project, but the album cuts like “Nashville Without You,” “Tinted Windows,” “Book of John,” “Annie I Owe You a Dance” and “Number 37405” were what made that album something truly special.
It’s really that way with a large number of today’s big name acts. Sure, Jason Aldean will release songs like “Dirt Road Anthem” and “1994” as singles, but he has some absolutely amazing album cuts which never see the light of radio’s day. Songs like “I Don’t Do Lonely Well” and “Staring at the Sun” off of his “Night Train” album show he knows a very good country song…and songs like “Black Tears” show he knows how to take a risk. Hell, even go back to his “Relentless” album…listen to album cuts like “Back In This Cigarette” and “A Grown Woman.”
Luke Bryan is another example…listen to his album cuts like “Tackle Box,” “Roller Coaster,” and “You Don’t Know Jack.” Do a search and find some songs that were never recorded on a major label album…search for “Small Town Favorite Son” and “Five O’Clock Angel.”
The problem isn’t with the artists in these cases. In a certain sense, it’s hard to even blame the labels for releasing singles that they think will make them the most money. They are after all a business. Like I said before, those types of party songs, get drunk in the woods with my friends songs, aren’t half bad when listening to an entire album.
I could list other artists where this is the same case.
It’s the listening public that really makes the radio unbearable to listen to on most days. The listening public is what demands that these songs are what get released while the best tracks off of the albums remain largely unheard. Largely, it’s been digital media which has driven this trend. Many people only download the songs that they hear on the radio. Full album purchases aren’t as requisite as they used to be. So these album cuts get ignored and forgotten.
Even worse, some of the best artists out there are barely heard at all: Gary Allan, Dean Brody, Halfway to Hazard, Mary Chapin Carpenter. These artists are virtually ignored. Hell, even Dwight Yoakam still puts out absolutely amazing country music but it gets ignored.
Then…there are the artists who just suck outright. Those are the Taylor Swifts, the Hunter Hayes and the Florida Georgia Lines, the Parmalees. The ones who are pure pop, nothing more. The album cuts aren’t country, the singles are not country, there’s nothing country about them except that they are marketed that way. To be honest, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith were actually pretty good artists up until their first Greatest Hits Collections…after which Kenny started his island kick and seems to have never gone away from it (though “Hemingway’s Whiskey” was a pretty decent album, actually) and Toby Keith began his “How Do You Like Me Now” era and basically made the decision to brave the question of “how brash can I be before someone decides to kick my ass?”
These are the artists we need to concern ourselves with. The artists who have flat out chosen to abandon country music’s roots and history, or worse, ignore it altogether from the start. After we weed them out, then we can concern ourselves with trying to get the remaining artists to release the best tracks as singles.
January 21, 2014 @ 4:32 am
KILL IT WITH FIRE!
If someone can actually make it through the entire song they deserve some sort of medal.
January 28, 2014 @ 9:54 am
I liked it… lol
January 28, 2014 @ 10:56 am
Listening to that gave me a BAAAD Nashville Rash… Merle can ya please help me???
January 28, 2014 @ 5:00 pm
I COULDN’T AGREE MORE!!!!!!!! Best thing I’ve read all day. the other horse shit I’ve read has been praising Tim McGraw, FOR WHAT??? Totally ruining the face of country music with this horrible, HORRIBLE, song. It makes me shake my head as i listen to it. PATHETIC. Tim needs to go back to his old days when he was “fat” or maybe HEALTHY. He looks like he starving, and that is beyond unappealing. C’mon Tim, i expected a little more from you. BRING BACK OLD COUNTRY MUSIC! Enough with his pop, auto-tuned bullshit. Leave that to Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift, Not you Tim McGraw. Bring back old Tim.
February 4, 2014 @ 12:25 am
Country purists will hate it, but I like the song and I’m a girl imagine that. It has soft tones and a fairly catchy chorus. People want to say this is an evolution, but he did his duet with Nelly in 2003 before he did Live Like You Were Dying. So what artists can’t change because it will piss people off? That’s some BS people change music changes if he likes a song he goes with it…if you don’t like it don’t listen, but I find it fun to listen to is it Don’t Take The Girl or Indian Outlaw? No, but hello I’m not expecting the same thing over and over again if I wanted that I’d turn on the pop channel in town and listen to 2 hours back to back of the same top 20 songs playing again and again.
February 8, 2014 @ 5:19 am
I think Travis tritt said it best “country aint country no more” and it’s sad because I thought that tim would remain true country and not give in to the so called “new” style of country music (or supposed to be country). Not only is it an awful song but he also uses auto tune? I mean come on Tim! I can just see hank Sr and George Jones lookin down from heaven shaking their heads.
February 17, 2014 @ 6:41 pm
For anyone born after 1990 that only knows the new pop/country.. Body like a honeycomb. . Means SWEET!!
June 6, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
I was thinking it meant a body full of holes. Cause you know honeycomb has the holes where the honey sits. I don’t know.
February 20, 2014 @ 10:25 am
Tim is a country legend…….that being said I almost lost all respect for him because of this song. He needs to get off the tanning bed and out into the country to find his roots again…
February 27, 2014 @ 9:56 pm
So I finally heard this for myself a little earlier this evening…
Wow. Just”¦wow. I mean, I thought Tim McGraw jumped the shark with “Truck Yeah,” but “Lookin’ For That Girl” is just”¦spectacularly bad. I mean, so bad it circles around to good and back to bad and back to good and back to bad and so on for freaking infinity. It’s…fractal, recursive badness, arguably never before seen in music.
August 6, 2014 @ 10:54 am
I never bought into the low-brim, billy baddass black cowboy hat persona that Tim McGraw sports. Oh, and by the way…Tim McGraw and Faith Hill like Obama. What damn frauds!
March 9, 2014 @ 1:18 pm
They just don’t die. They just keep on spitting out more and more of this shit and never stop.
October 19, 2014 @ 11:16 am
I cannot believe that this crap is called “country”. Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda is more country than this.
October 22, 2014 @ 1:50 pm
Also, the way he says “neon jäger” sounds like “neon n***er”
October 22, 2014 @ 2:09 pm
Wait a minute, why is Tim McGraw looking for Marlo Thomas? Is he steppin’ out on Faith?
January 11, 2015 @ 8:40 am
If you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it. This is America and he is an artist. Gospel might fit you all a little better…
February 8, 2022 @ 4:07 pm
This guy, in my opinion, is no country singer. I may be an old 72 year old geezer but I know what country music is and was. Merle Haggard , George Jones, Hank Williams etc. I was a bassist and backup vocalist and played many honky tonks over many years. When McGraw’s lead guitarist takes a ride and sounds like he belongs in a heavy metal band screw that! Real country music has soul and it shouldn’t sound like a punk rock band. Screw Tim McGraw and his so called “country.”