Trace Cyrus, the musician son of Billy Ray Cyrus, recently unleashed some blistering criticism of Jason Aldean's 2023 song, "Try That in A Small Town." Cyrus, 36, initially shredded the track on Instagram, per American Songwriter. Now, Cyrus has modified his comments - at least to a degree.
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Cyrus wrote, "I have Jason Aldean fans furious that I don't like his 'Welcome to a Small Town' song. And guys, I try to be a better person, but, at the end of the day, social media is a game. I'm just going to be completely honest 'cause a lot of you guys don't watch all my stories. For the ones that do, I do this on purpose to piss people off."
He added, "Do I hate the song? Yes. Did it need to be said to the world? Probably not. But I knew it was going to make people mad. I was speaking my truth while doing it. I do think I can genuinely help Jason Aldean write much, much, much better songs."
What Trace Cyrus Wrote About Jason Aldean's Song
Cyrus didn't hold back when it came to analyzing Aldean's track. Per the outlet via Penn Live, "Guys, I was just sitting in my kitchen and this stupid [expletive] song came on the radio. Remember this went viral? And everyone knows, like, I'm as patriotic as it gets. I love Trump and America and all that [expletive] but listen to how stupid this is."
He went on to label the song "trash for real." Cyrus continued, "I'm not trying to, like, completely destroy Jason Aldean's soul right now, but no one wants to hear that on the radio. That is obviously paid for to be on the radio or something."
He Also Had Choice Words For The Video
The video for "Try That in A Small Town" was decried by some because it was filmed at a historically fraught location. The Maury County Courthouse in Tennessee was the site of a lynching in 1927, as well as racial tension in the 1940s, per NPR.
Cyrus said of the video, "The fact that they shut down the Columbia town square to shoot that video, and I literally had my girl shoot my video on my iPhone and then I edited it myself. My video is cooler than his stupid [expletive] video. Like, this is how dumb these record labels are, guys... They are still putting [expletive] like this on country radio and nobody wants to hear it."
Aldean Has Adamantly Defended The Song In The Past
The singer has staunchly argued in favor of his song. Some felt that its references to urban violence and crime were a glorification of those phenomena. Aldean disagreed. He said to American Songwriiter. "To me, the song was about this, and the video was about this. This is what I saw, this is what I meant by it. If you choose to see something else, then I guess music, videos, and all those things are subjective and that's your right. ... I'm very confident in my decisions and the way I feel about things. So I was absolutely ready for that and it was worth it."
He has not commented to date on Trace Cyrus's remarks about the song and video.
