Sam Hunt: Country’s Charlatan

 

Artist: Sam Hunt

Born: Sam Lowry Hunt on December 8th, 1984, in Cedartown, Georgia

Music Career: 2009-Present

Genres: Country, country-pop, pop

Breakout Song/Album: Leave the Night On”, Montevallo (2014)

Rating: 1/5

Boy, have I got some words for Sam Hunt, and they ain’t pretty. I’ll start out with the fact that his music sounds absolutely nothing like any country songs I have ever heard in my entire life. And that’s saying something, considering we had Taylor Swift on the radio for years on end. What infuriates me even more is that Sam has written slamming hits for Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Billy Currington, and the legendary Reba McEntire. I might be a little happier with this guy if he actually applied those skills to his music, instead of becoming another drop in the ocean of overplayed pop stars disguising themselves in different genres.

His songs aren’t the only things that annoy me, it’s also his fans. True blue country fans that would flock to the nearest Alan Jackson or Blake Shelton concert would be disgusted by the sound of this guy. I swear, the crowds at his concerts are 99% girls in their mid-20s who wear short shorts and are obsessed with Jeeps and candids.

Sam Hunt’s fans are just specks of dust when compared to what really infuriates me about him: he talks, he doesn’t sing, in his songs. I recently listened to one of his hits, “Take Your Time”. I was not happy with what it was. It had a good meaning to it: trying to be the perfect guy in the middle of a lot of bad ones. If only the entire song was actually sung, not spoken like a monotonous robot. One of the lines is literally: “Save you from random guys who talk too much.” Yes, you do talk too much! Lots of his songs are made in these toneless tunes, too many to name.

Yet, somehow, the charlatan of country has been given nomination after nomination at music awards ceremonies for songs that almost make fun of the country genre itself. Electronic, computer generated, hip-hop sounds plague his songs, and somehow people choose those over ones that include guitars and actual instruments.

My grade for Sam Hunt and his poppy, electro-country: D, as in disappear from the country world. Go and play with T-Swift and Kanye in the pop realm, Mr. Hunt. And if I have to hear “Body Like A Back Road” one more time on the radio, I’m going to break something.