Someone, make it stop!!!

My preference for country music is not exactly a revelation on this site, and I shall always defend the genre against all comers. However, and I'm sure this is true for any genre of music, every so often there's a country song that comes out and tears up the charts that I just absolutely can't stand, for one reason or another. And I'm presently living in one of those moments.

Sugarland has been one of the hottest acts in country since they burst onto the scene as a vocal threesome back in 2005, and continued their momentum even after losing one of their members between their first and second album and continuing on as a duo (although, I'm qutioning how much longer they can maintain that distinction, since I'm pretty sure that the 2nd member hasn't actually sung on their last 2 singles...) And I really like Sugarland for the most part. Their last single, Stay, I thought was a pretty fresh and different look at an old country standard topic - the cheating husband/wife.

However, their current single, "All I Want to Do", which finds itself at #8 on the country charts, and rising, after only 6 weeks on, is driving me absolutely bananas. I obviously don't like every song that I hear on country radio, but I can usually at least recognize the merits of a song I don't like that happens to be popular. This song, however, defies just about everything that I like about country music. The lyrics will probably give you a good enough picture, but if you can do a quick search and hear the song somewhere, I'm sure it will drive it home. It is not clever, it is not funny, it is not well written, and it's not in anyway original. It belongs on a Disney Radio album, if even there. It's catchy, syrupy, pop fluff and nothing more, and I've thought that since the first time I heard it performed on the ACM awards back in April.

Here's a little tip: If you have to make "do" into a 15 syllable word not once, but twice, to fill out your chorus, the song doesn't belong on a country album. I just don't think that, beyond lead singer Jennifer Nettles' distinctive southern vocals, there is anything country about this song. And it offends me (to the extent that I can really be offended by something like this) that this song is beating out much better songs by lesser known artists for airtime.

I suppose mainly I'm just hoping that this doesn't represent a new tact that Sugarland plans to take musically - it is the first single of their upcoming album, so it's a valid concern. I get my fill of country-tinted pop from Rascal Flatts (and even they haven't gone this far yet, at least in my estimation), I don't need another big-time act rolling it out on a regular basis.