Brittany Aldean is celebrating husband Jason Aldean’s first-ever No. 1 hit after his song “Try That in a Small Town” ignited a debate within the industry.
“Well, yesterday was a monumental day for @jasonaldean ❤️,” she captioned an Instagram post on Tuesday, August 1. “#1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart!! …A career first🙏🏼 That sure did backfire, didn’t it?? The best fans EVERRRR❣️❣️❣️❣️.”
In the upload, Brittany included a photo of herself hugging Jason and a snap of him holding their two children — son Memphis, 5, and daughter Navy, 4. Her post also featured videos of the couple partying at a restaurant with their loved ones.
Fans and friends took to the comments section to join in on the celebration. “Being courageous always works out in the end. So few people are willing to do it but fortune really does favor the brave,” Candace Owens wrote. “Well deserved. We love you guys❤️.”
Jason, for his part, did not appear to address his achievement via social media after soaring to his first No. 1. His controversial song is followed by Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car,” marking the first time in 65 years that country songs claimed the top three spots on the Billboard chart.
“Try That in a Small Town” was initially released in May, but it only began to make waves following the release of its music video last month. Some listeners questioned the song’s content — which seemingly encourages “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” or “cuss out a cop” in a small town and “see how far ya make it down the road.”
Despite widespread criticism from social media users and fellow musicians alike, Jason stood by his songwriting. “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far,” he claimed in a July 18 Twitter statement. (The video has since been altered to remove some images of violent Black Lives Matter protests from 2020.)
While on his Highway Desperado tour, Jason addressed the controversy more than once. “What I am is a proud American [and] I’m proud to be from here,” he said on stage in Ohio on July 21. “I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls—t started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family and I will do anything to protect that, I can tell you that right now.”
One week later, Jason attempted to connect the dots between his song’s message and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing during his concert in Massachusetts. “What I saw when that happened was, not a small town — a big ass town — come together. … The whole country, especially Boston, came together to find these two pricks that did that,” he told the audience. “Any of you guys that would’ve found those guys before the cops did, I know you guys from Boston, and you guys would’ve beat the s–t out of [them].”
The public backlash, however, hasn’t hindered Jason’s career — and his wife has been his most vocal supporter through it all. During an Instagram Q&A uploaded on Wednesday, August 2, Brittany opened up about how she’s learned to ignore the haters.
“I think confidence comes with age,” she said in the video. “I’m 36, I’ve been through a lot of crap with my relationship. … It doesn’t matter, I feel like you’re always going to have a hater. But you’ve never met a hater that’s doing better than you. So block, delete. Bye.”
