She's Country Analysis

In today’s entertainment industry, we have so many different genres of music. Two of the many different forms include country and rap music. In 2008, Jason Aldean’ s song “She’ s Country” was released, and the lyrics in the song describe how “typical” country women live their life. In comparison, J. Cole’ s song “Work Out,” released in 2011, shows how women are seen in the public eye. Both of these songs adhere to media mainstreaming the physical appearance of women through clothing. J. Cole and Jason Aldean emphasize in their lyrics, what they feel like women’ s gender roles should be. The two artists also objectify women, which may have consequences on the listeners. Although J. Cole and Jason Aldean are two different music artists, both
Usha Rani Narayana, writer of “Mainstreaming Women in News-Myth or Reality” writes, “Historically, media have framed women as an object of desire and have traded them as a commodity in a male dominated society” (Narayana 1). Narayana’ s statement argues against the lyrics in Jason Aldean and J. Cole’s song because she states that the way, how women are portrayed in media reflects the way, women are seen in society and it also mirrors the way women view themselves. In the song “She’s Country,” Jason Aldean sings, “Brother she’s all country from her cowboy boots to her down home roots, she’s country, from the songs she plays to the prays she prays….” (Aldean). When saying this, Aldean is stating that true country women wear cowboy boots and that they are born country from where they have grown-up. However, he does not take into consideration that not all women who listen to his music wear cowboy boots. This could lead women to feel excluded because they might not feel attractive if they do not meet up with the clothing statements Aldean is making. Although Aldean did not explicitly state what type of clothing he prefers, in the music video it is seen that the women wear slightly tighter clothing. In contrast, J. Cole sings, “Man that thing in them jeans too fat for
Cole’ s songs seem to objectify women with the way they portray them. Usha Rani Narayana believes that, “Media organizations are required to implement gender mainstreaming policy to ensure gender perspective in news in mainstream media” (Narayana 3). This means that often times media labels women according to what they wear or where they are from. In the song “She’s Country” Aldean labels country women by singing, “She's a party- all nighter from South Carolina, a bad mamajama from down in Alabama, she's a ragin cajun, a lunatic from Brunswick, juicy Georgia peach” (Aldean). When he sings these lyrics, he is name-calling, country women according to where they come from, and he infers about the personalities associated with a specific region. In addition to this, when he sings these lyrics, he excludes women who do not come from the places he lists, and he makes broad statements as to how he sees country women that come from the south. In Aldeans music genre it is common to generalize women based on which small town setting they come from. On the other hand, J. Cole sings, “I know what's on your brain you're probably hopin' never would end like is it the real thing or is it just a one nightstand…” (Cole). J. Coles’ lyrics represent objectification of women because in these lyrics he is implying that he knows the woman in front of him wants to be with him whether it is a real relationship or a one-night stand. However, there is no communication