When looking back at the country music career of Luke Bryan, one song looms large: “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” the 2011 single that proved to be his breakthrough hit.
However, that song’s success has also been something of a double-edged sword for the “American Idol” judge, who is now opening up about some of the criticism that the song opened him up to.
Shaking It to ‘Country Girl’
In a recent interview with “Billboard‘s Chart History,” Bryan discussed the impact that “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” and some of his other early hits had on his career.
“At the time, you got songs like ‘Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,’ which, those are giant songs with high levels of dancing and uptempo,” Bryan explained.
“I was just writing music for my crowd and the joy of the years I’ve had watching country girls let their hair down and just shake it and have fun,” he continued.
“It made me morph into more of a person that does that on stage too — just to have fun,” he added.
However, he admitted that the flip side of that was that he’s “been judged a little bit over the years about dancing and shaking.”
However, that’s something he’s always tended to let slide off his back.
“It’s always been for fun for me and letting everybody else come along on the party too,” he said. “With me, it’s just been a life-changing song for me. It really told the world who I was, who my brand was.”
Added Bryan: “I’m the guy in the room that’s here to have fun and I’m here to make you have fun. Life’s too short not to do that,” he concluded.
The Inspiration Behind His Breakout Hit
Released in March 2011 as the first single from his “Tailgates & Tanlines” album, “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” has been certified multi-platinum by the RIAA.
As Bryan pointed out, that song truly was “life-changing” for him, placing him on a red-hot career path of success that continues to this day
The inspiration for the song, he revealed in a 2014 interview with The Boot, came from an experience he had while playing a private party.
“I’ll never forget, I played a private party one time, and it was a pool party for some young kids who had some money,” Bryan recalled. “Their parents wanted Luke Bryan to surprise them, and the time I got done playing, they put on dance music and rap, and the pool party was just rocking! I was like, ‘I’ve gotta try to write some music that maybe some kids like that will want to rock at their pool party or play at a honky tonk.'”
He took that idea to his songwriting partner, Dallas Davidson, and the two ran with it.
“We didn’t have a title. If you had told us the title, ‘Country Girl (Shake It for Me),’ we’d have said that’s too cheesy,” Bryan admitted.
“I’m not naive,” Bryan added. “I get the song. It’s just a simple, fun little song.”
Luke Bryan Defends His ‘Dancing and Shaking’ After Feeling ‘Judged’