Ahh Cole Swindell, reinforcing his reputation as the Creepy McCreeperson of Music Row. As if being a mini Luke Bryan and snatching his fan base wasn’t enough, Cole has made a pretty good living already out of penning weird “narratives” that objectify women and blur the lines between sexual consent and harassment. ‘Hope You Get Lonely Tonight’ in particular had a dark quality to it that was certainly not intended, rather inadvertently reflected the worrying view on what is deemed acceptable to do and say in modern sexual relations. ‘Let Me See Ya Girl’ (previously known as ‘Lemme See Ya Girl’) doesn’t even try to hide its gross predatory nature behind a notion of “romance”, however, and after ‘Ain’t Worth The Whiskey’ saw a jilted lover practically bitching in subtweets this seems like just one more chapter in the “Cole Swindell is an ass” playbook.
“Girl you’re tearin’ that dance floor up, let me see you do it in the bed of my truck,” he sneers in that slimy manner, faking innocence. “You sure know how to shake it alright, let me see you do it in the Tennessee moonlight. Woah baby let’s go down a little road nobody else knows, just me and you park on the edge of the world, that’s how I wanna see you girl.” I don’t know about you, but if some guy came up to me in a club and said all that, I’d get the pepper spray out and log a restraining order. If that’s not a defense for rape, I don’t know what is. Newsflash, too: women are able to have a good time without needing a man (“bet you came out to have a good time, what you say you leave your friends with mine”).
Because again, we never get to hear any implication that the subject of the song is interested in the narrator. This is just his pitch for her to get freaky with him, which generally suggests they have had little to no contact prior to the content of the song, making some of the things he says incredibly creepy and overstepping about a dozen lines. Contrary to popular opinion, this is not an acceptable way to talk to someone you’ve just met, no matter how much you think she’s “asking for it”, or “into you”. Chances are she’s just out with her friends having a good time, and it’s this culture of “she’s looking sexy therefore she wants me” that is such a dangerous one when it comes to wider societal implications. Lack of sexual consent is still a very real problem, particularly within colleges where the majority of the artists and fans of bro-country are drawing from – see Luke Bryan’s Spring Break releases, attention to highlighting people’s fraternities/sororities, etc. College kids have become the target market for mainstream country, and we don’t need to be telling already impressionable young adults that it’s okay to talk to women like that, or even act upon those wishes. I can’t believe those who have supported this are accepting no responsibility for the kinds of behaviors it encourages.
As for the music, well it’s a synthed-up, R&B/hip hop beat-infused pile of shit, something that I would be quite never hearing again. I’ve heard it referred to as ‘Get Me Some of That’ part 2 (the original was released by Thomas Rhett last year), and I would say that’s a fairly accurate comparison when considering both the lyrics and music. Either they’re both moronic (more than likely), or they know how bad the music they’re releasing is and they just don’t care. Either way it doesn’t excuse them from launching such monstrosities onto country radio, and it certainly doesn’t excuse any of the idiots who choose to support it. I mean come on. Give me one good reason why this is a good song, because I guarantee you there isn’t one.
It’s almost certain to do well airplay-wise, and this is why I have so many issues with the country format. We’re not helping ourselves.
