Brad Paisley has steadily morphed from a standard pop-country crooner who alternated between devastating ballads and goofy hits in his early career to country music’s most reliably woke bro. He puts his foot in his mouth often as not — remember “Accidental Racist“? — but he’s trying and that’s respectable. Sometimes he even sticks the landing like on “Welcome to the Future.” Paisley’s latest topical target is people snapping photos of themselves at the worst times. And unlike that unfortunate LL Cool J collab, “selfie#theinternetisforever” mostly hits the mark.
Admittedly, the song’s composition is a little shoddy. It stops and starts in odd ways that make us think maybe Paisley got overwhelmed with excitement about the idea of the song before he had a song all the way together. Still, the selfie-stick smashing lyrics and jokes about funeral photo ops make the track worth a listen. It might also be the first mainstream country song to address dick pics on record. We have to assume that all this hate doesn’t apply to the selfie Paisley took with Westboro Baptist Church picketers protesting his show over his own professed liberal values.
All that novelty and yukking doesn’t excuse a hella transphobic joke in the song’s outro — and we know that Brad knows better — but for the most part the song is a goofy and fun listen. Check it out up top.
